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1-3 


RELIGION  AND  SOCIAL  THEORIES 


I.— The  Isle  of  Dreams.' 


AN  ADDRESS  IN  THE  RODEF  SHALOM  TEMPLE 

PITTSBURGH,  SUNDAY,  JANUARY  5,   1913. 


Scripture  Reading:  Joel  ii. 


And  it  shall  come  to  pass  afterward,  that  I  will  pour  out 
my  spirit  upon  all  flesh;  and  your  sons  and  your  daughters 
shall  prophesy,  your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams,  and  your 
young  men  shall  see  visions:  And  also  upon  the  servants  and 
upon  the  handmaids  in  those  days  will  I  pour  out  my  spirit. 
(Joel  ii.,  28,  29.) 


This  most  inspiring  prophecy  of  Joel  immediately  fol- 
lows his  assurance  that  God  would  restore  to  the  people 
of  Israel  all  that  they  had  lost  during-  that  period  of 
great  drought  when  the  locust,  the  cankerworm,  the  pal- 
merworm  and  the  caterpillar  had  destroyed  the  mellow 
fruits  and  the  golden  harvest.  Before  the  earth  is  to  be 
blessed  by  the  outpouring  of  God's  spirit  over  all  flesh, 
the  Prophet  announces  that  God  will  introduce,  for  the 
people  of  Israel,  a  period  of  economic  prosperity.  All 
that  was  lost,  would  be  restored  and  more. 


*By  the  Rev.  J.  Leonard  Levy,  Rabbi  of  the  Congregation. 
Stenographically  reported  by  Caroline  Loewenthal. 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

The  Promise  of  Material  Prosperity 

The  great  drought,  which  had  wiped  out  so  much 
of  the  produce  belonging  to  this  agricultural  people,  was 
to  be  succeeded  by  abundant  showers  of  the  first  rain 
and  the  latter  rain.  Where  there  had  been  want,  there 
would  be  plenty.  Where  there  had  been  poverty,  there 
would  be  wealth.  Where  there  had  been  distress,  there 
would  be  relief.  Where  there  had  been  wailing  and 
weeping,  there  would  be  joy  and  happiness.  These  pleas- 
ant conditions  were  to  follow  from  the  fact  that  God,  in 
lli->  me  rev.  lirul  restored  prosperity  to  the  land. 

Such  Promises  Criticized 

Many  of  the  critics  of  the  Jewish  religion  and  the 
Jewi>h  Scriptures  seem  to  be  amazed  at  the  utterance 
of  Joel  and  the  other  Jewish  writers  who,  in  the  name 
of  God,  promised  the  blessings  of  prosperity  to  the  people 
of  Israel.  They  tell  us  that  the  religion  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament paid  heed  only  to  this  world  and  attached  its 
people  to  this  earth ;  that  all  its  promises  bear  reference 
to  this  life;  that  its  philosophy  is  necessarily  material- 
istic; that  its  most  glowing  hopes  refer  only  to  material 
prosperity. 

If  Israel  will  obey  the  will  of  God,  then  their  flocks 
shall  increase,  their  harvests  shall  be  abundant,  their 
silver  and  gold  shall  multiply,  their  possessions  shall  be- 
come more  numerous  than  ever,  says  Moses ;  and  every 
Prophet  in  the  Old  Testament  repeats  that  promise  more 
or  less.  If  our  spiritual  masters  said  this  and  nothing 
more,  there  would  seem  to  be  some  foundation  for  the 

2 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

accusation  of  the  non-Jewish  critics  of  our  Scriptures 
that  the  Old  Testament  would  tend  to  make  its  followers 
"of  the  earth,  earthly ;"  to  cause  them  to  desire  only 
economic  prosperity ;  and  to  make  them  yearn  only  for 
gold  and  silver  and  flocks  and  herds  and  earthly  posses- 
sions. But  the  truth  is  that  neither  Moses  nor  the 
prophets  confine  their  prophetic  utterances  to  material 
conditions,  as  he  who  reads  may  know. 

Other- Worldliness  Unsuccessful 

It  is  entirely  true  that  there  have  been  religions 
which  have  sought  to  attach  their  people  to  other  worlds 
than  ours;  but  they  have  always  signally  failed.  No 
better  illustration  can  be  given  than  that  of  Buddhism. 
Wherever  the  spirit  of  non-resistance  preached  by  Bud- 
dha, and  the  philosophy  which  he  espoused,  found  a  tem- 
porary root,  the  people  either  supinely  submitted  to  task- 
masters, or  became  unfit  for  the  struggle  of  life.  Con- 
sidered in  its  last  phase,  Buddhism  placed  before  man 
the  ideal  of  non-resistant,  meditative,  Inactive  piety. 
The  man  who  could  place  his  finger  on  his  navel  and 
permit  his  mind  to  wander  into  the  realms  of  the  unseen, 
unceasingly  repeating  the  word  "Om,"  while  filthy  ver- 
min crept  over  him ;  the  man  who  regarded  the  life  of 
the  vilest  insect  or  deadliest  snake  as  sacred  as  his  own, 
soon  showed  that  he  was  out  of  harmony  with  nature, 
and  was  only  fit  to  be  set  aside  by  that  law  of  progress 
which  cannot  be  stopped  in  its  operation. 

The  Failure  of  the  Nazarenes. 

The     early     Christian     community,     which     spread 
3 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

throughout  the  Roman  empire,  soon  failed.  Based  upon 
the  beliefs  that  man  should  not  marry,  since  the  founder 
of  that  community  did  not  marry ;  that  man  should  pos- 
sess no  worldly  goods,  resent  no  attack,  turn  the  cheek 
to  the  smiter  and  be  silent,  it  brought  a  most  inspiring 
message  to  the  slaves  and  outcasts  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire ;  but  when  it  was  adopted  as  a  State  religion,  Chris- 
tianity ceased  ;  it  failed  absolutely.  It  could  not  be  other- 
wise ;  for  a  religion  which  is  based  upon  the  belief  that 
marriage  is  not  permissible,  or,  if  permissible,  it  is  only 
allowed  to  prevent  men  from  doing  worse;  a  religion 
which  is  grounded  in  the  thought  that  \fie  possession  of 
earthly  goods  is  contrary  to  the  will  of  God;  a  religion 
which  preaches  that  we  should  resist  no  evil  of  any  char- 
acter, offers  as  fundamentals  that  which  is  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  nature  and,  therefore,  to  the  will  of  God.  It 
is.  therefore,  doomed  to  failure  immediately  it  is  seri- 
ously espoused. 

Primitive  and  Later  Christianity. 

We  must  not  confuse  modern  Christianity  with 
primitive  Christianity.  We  who  are  critical,  who  inves- 
tigate, and  who  set  no  bounds  to  the  right  of  investiga- 
tion, realize  thoroughly  that  the  Christianity  of  today 
bears  no  resemblance  whatever  to  the  Christianity  of  the 
early  followers  of  the  founder  of  that  faith ;  for  it  does 
glorify  earthly  possessions;  it  does  permit  marriage  and 
only  forbids  divorce;  that  it  does  resist  evil;  and  that  it 
has,  throughout  all  the  ages,  permitted  the  swords  of 
warriors  to  be  placed  upon  the  altars  of  God,  and  it,  the 
non-resistant  religion,  has  always  invoked  a  heavenly 

4 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

benediction  upon  the  instruments  of  resistance.  It  ill 
becomes  men  whose  religion  has  failed,  and  whose  re- 
ligion, as  it  is  now  espoused,  ^anctifies  and  blesses  and 
conserves  property,  to  find  fault  with  those  Prophets 
who  gave  us  the  promise  that  if  we  obeyed  the  will  of 
God,  our  earthly  possessions  should  become  secure,  our 
health  should  be  fortified,  the  peace  of  our  land  should 
be  established,  and  prosperity  should  abound. 

Prosperity  and  Obedience  to  God's  Will. 

In  spite  of  the  vaporings  of  persons  uver-attached  to 
other-worldliness,  there  is  an  intimate  relation  between 
true  prosperity  and  genuine  obedience  to  the  will  of  God 
which  is  expressed  in  the  laws  of  nature.  The  most  in- 
teresting illustration  given  in  the  Bible  is  that  which 
tells  that  if  Israel  would  be  obedient  to  the  will  of  God, 
He  would  send  the  rains  in  their  due  season. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  modern  science,  through 
:hat  branch  called  Meteorology,  teaches  that  many  of 
the  terrible  upheavals  in  nature,  such  as  frightful  land- 
slides and  dearth  of  moisture,  have  been  brought  about 
not  by  the  wickedness  of  people  who  do  not  go  to  church, 
but  by  the  wickedness  of  men  who,  through  their  cupid- 
ity, avarice  and  covetousness,  have  denuded  the  forests. 
By  this  means  they  have  brought  upon  themselves  the 
curse  of  terrible  storm,  and  flood,  and  destruction, — in 
a  word,  a  material  condition.  Not  only  this;  but  because 
men  have  robbed  the  earth  of  its  means  of  retaining  the 
needed  moisture,  they  have  likewise  destroyed  much  of 
the  surface  of  the  earth ;  so  that  today,  the  United  States 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

Government  authorities  tell  us,  millions  of  tons  of  soil 
are  annually  carried  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  by  our  great 
central  river  systems. 

Is  not  the  will  of  God  apparent?  It  was  the  rule  in 
ancient  Israel,  as  in  modern  Germany,  that  for  every 
tree  cut  clown  a  new  tree  was  to  be  planted.  But  Ameri- 
can avarice  has  not  been  thus  far-seeing;  and  it  is  only 
today  that  we  are  beginning  to  realize,  as  has  the  man- 
agement of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  that  unless  we 
quickly  plant  anew,  we  are  inviting  distress  upon  our 
land,  as  well  as  robbing  future  generations  of  the  neces- 
sary supply  of  timber.  Is  it  not  clear  that,  by  obeying 
the  will  of  God,  we  do  bring  upon  ourselves  material 
prosperity? 

God's  Favor  or  Disfavor. 

1  would  not  have  you  believe  for  a  moment  that  any 
of  the  I'rophets  taught  unequivocally  that  wealth  always 
means  that  God's  will  has  been  obeyed,  or  that  poverty 
always  means  that  God's  will  has  been  disobeyed.  In 
the  time  of  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Job,  the  opinion 
prevailed  that  riches  were  the  proof  of  God's  love  and 
poverty  was  the  evidence  of  His  disapproval;  that  the 
rich  man  by  the  fact  that  he  was  rich,  proved  that  God 
loved  him,  while  the  poor  man,  by  the  fact  of  his  poverty, 
proved  that  God  did  not  love  him.  That  was  the  popular 
belief  not  only  in  Job's  day  but  during  many  thousands 
of  years.  I  am  not  quite  sure  but  many  hold  a  similar, 
belief  even  today ;  for  the  respect  many  pay  to  mere 
wealth,  even  when  it  is  associated  with  no  moral  quali- 
ties in  its  possessor,  indicates  that  they  attach  to  money 
alone  a  value  which  surely  God  does  not  assign  to  it. 

6 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

Moreover,  we  know  that  there  are  men  who  make 
wealth  by  crooked  methods,  and  that  there  are  men  who 
have  amassed  fortunes  by  theftjand  roguery.  We  know 
that  such  possessions  are  generally  short  lived,  and  that, 
in  spite  of  every  attempt  to  retain  such  wealth  in  the 
family  for  the  use  of  children  and  grandchildren,  tainted 
money  rarely  remains  in  a  family  for  more  than  three 
generations,  if  as  long.  No  moral  person  believes  that 
it  is  the  will  of  God  that  man  should  make  wealth  by 
crooked  methods  and,  therefore,  we  may  reject  the  propo- 
sition that  prosperity  is  the  proof  of  God's  love.  By  a 
similar  line  of  reasoning  we  may  conclude  that  poverty 
is  not  the  proof  of  God's  disfavor. 

Some  of  the  best  men  who  ever  lived  have  been 
poor;  some  of  the  worst  men  who  ever  lived  have  been 
rich.  Some  of  those  who  have  rendered  the  greatest 
service  to  society  have  not  had  whereon  to  lay  their 
head,  and  some  of  the  worst  men  have  possessed  a  sur- 
feit of  gold.  Therefore,  there  must  be  some  other  rela- 
tion existing  between  God's  favor  and  wealth,  and  God's 
disfavor  and  poverty.  Surely  thoughtful  persons  ought 
not  require  to  be  told,  at  this  late  date,  that  the  triumphs 
and  trials  of  life  must  be  interpreted  in  moral  terms,  and 
that,  only  in  so  far  as  our  material  condition  ministers 
to  our  moral  development,  does  it  possess  any  value  in 
the  sight  of  God. 

The  Meaning  of  Joel's  Prophecy. 

When,  therefore,  Joel  announced  that  a  period  of 
great  prosperity  was  about  to  come,  we  may  be  sure 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

that  his  message  bore  a  deeper  and  more  significant 
meaning  than  merely  to  promise  happy  and  prosperous 
times  to  a  people  who  had  been  alflicted. 

Consulting  history  we  find  that  prophecy  appears 
only  in  ages  of  prosperity.  Only  when  a  nation  is  rich 
docs  it  give  birth  to  prophets.  Only  when  a  people  is 
prosperous,  do  men  arise  who  dream  dreams  and  see 
visions.  This  may  be  a  new  thought  to  many,  but  in- 
vestigation will  prove  the  truth  of  it.  When  a  nation 
is  degraded  by  poverty;  when  its  people  are  obsessed  by 
the  urgency  of  getting  bread ;  when  bodily  existence  can 
scarcely  be  maintained,  men  are  not  given  to  dreaming 
dreams  and  seeing  visions. 

Prophecy  Appears  Amid  Prosperity. 

Man  lives  by  bread.  He  does  not  live  by  bread  alone, 
but  lie  cannot  live  without  bread.  The  bread  question  is, 
in  many  respects,  the  most  important  problem  of  human 
life.  For  where  there  is  no  bread,  there  will  soon  be  no 
man  ;  and  wherever  man  ceases  to  be,  the  vexing  ques- 
tions which  perplex  society  immediately  cease.  In  times 
when  the  supply  of  bread  is  so  short  that  even  bodily 
existence  is  threatened,  there  is  no  time  for  dreaming, 
nor  is  there  opportunity  for  vision.  It  is  only  when 
wealth  is  abundant  and  whenever  the  poorest  have  at 
least  bread,  that  we  find  men  and  women  blessed  in  the 
manner  in  which  Joel  promises:  "In  those  days,  I  will 
pour  out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  your  old  men  shall 
dream  dreams  and  your  young  men  shall  see  visions,  and 
even  upon  man  servants  and  handmaids  will  I  pour  out 
My  spirit,  saith  the  Lord." 

8 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

Prophecy,  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  now  employed, 
did  not  appear  in  Israel  until  a  period  of  prosperity  ar- 
rived. That  marvelous  phenomenon,  known  as  Hebrew 
prophecy,  which  burst  upon  the  world  like  a  meteor  in  a 
dark  night,  appeared  in  the  eighth  century  B.  C.  E.,  in 
those  prosperous  times  when  Uzziah,  king  of  Judah,  had 
restored  the  ancient  limits  of  the  empire  over  which 
Solomon  had  ruled,  and  when  Jereboam  II.,  king  of  Is- 
rael, had  regained  the  entire  territory  of  the  Northern 
kingdom.  Both  kings  were  feared  by  their  enemies  and 
loved  by  their  friends,  and  the  people  of  both  kingdoms 
were  prospering  greatly.  In  their  day,  a  great  earth- 
quake smote  Palestine;  but  the  people  were  not  dis- 
mayed. They  said  "The  bricks  are  fallen  down,  but 
\ve  will  build  with  hewn  stone."  Men  do  not  speak  thus 
in  days  of  poverty.  It  was  an  age  of  great  happiness, 
and  success  and  prosperity  abounded  everywhere.  It 
was  in  such  an  age  that  Amos  appeared  as  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  human  conscience,  demanding  that  Israel 
should  understand  that  God  is  Justice.  It  was  at  such  a 
time  that  H"osea  preached  his  gospel  that  God  is  love. 
So,  Elijah  had  appeared  before  King  Ahab  when  Israel 
was  prosperous,  and  Nathan  had  chided  David,  when  the 
king  was  most  successful. 

Joel's  Complete  Utterance. 

There  is  a  close  relation  between  such  appeals  made 
by  the  keen  conscience  and  national  prosperity.  In  the 
days  of  want  and  poverty,  none  have  the  time  to  give 
expression  to  this  appeal.  But  when  men  have  leisure, 
when  thev  have  wealth,  when  abundance  flourishes,  then 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

some  of  us  clearly  see  the  glaring-  inequalities  of  human 
life.  As  the  abyss  grows  deeper  between  the  haves  and 
the  have-nots;  when  the  chasm  grows  wider  between 
the  strong  and  weak,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  then  some 
man  failed  of  God  rises  and  gives  expression  to  an  en- 
during phase  of  social  justice  without  which  society  can- 
in  it  lung  endure. 

So  that,  when  J;>el  says  that  God  will  bless  the  peo- 
ple with  prosperity,  this  was  only  one-half  of  his  mes- 
sa.^e.  I '.very  honest  critic  should  read  the  other  half 
before  he  decides.  If,  then,  the  critics  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  state  that  Judaism  induces  us  to  set  great 
st»re  upon  the  things  of  this  world,  they  tell  only  half 
<>f  the  truth.  It  is  just  as  necessary  for  man  to  have 
economic  resources  as  that  he  should  have  the  holy  spirit 
of  C.dd  poured  out  upon  him.  Joel's  prophecy  is  only 
complete  when  understood  to  promise  that  God  would 
iir-t  -en<l  prosperity  to  Israel,  and  that  afterward  He 
would  pour  out  His  spirit  upon  them  so  that  their  old 
men  -hould  dream  dreams  and  their  young  men  should 
>ee  visions. 

Unreliable  Human  Nature. 

It  is  worthy  of  our  notice,  in  this  connection,  that 
human  nature  is  the  most  unreliable  element  in  all  the 
world.  A  machine  will  readily  fulfill  our  bidding.  Touch 
the  lever  and  the  locomotive  will  run  as  long  as  there 
is  sufficient  steam  in  the  cylinders.  Press  the  button  ' 
and,  if  a  supply  of  electric  force  is  present,  the  chande- 
lier will  be  illuminated.  Take  any  mechanism  which  is 
lifeless  and,  if  the  required  conditions  are  met,  it  will 

10 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

respond  to  our  will.  Not  so,  man.  The  Chinese  say, 
"White  man  heap  uncertain."  We  may  say,  human  na- 
ture is  very  uncertain.  J 

One  would  imagine  that,  when  men  are  relieved 
from  the  burdens  of  poverty  and  when  the  incubus  of 
pressing  need  is  removed,  they  would  yearn  for  the 
outpouring  of  the  spirit  of  God.  Blessed  with  leisure, 
one  would  think  that  they  would  devote  some  time  to 
the  consideration  of  those  elements  which  feed  and  nour- 
ish the  spirit  of  God  in  man.  Possessing  abundance  of 
time,  one  would  judge  that  they  would  devote  some  part 
of  it  to  stu.dy,  or  to- quiet  contemplation,  or  to  humane 
labors,  or  to  divine  service.  One  would  imagine  that 
with  the  disappearance  of  the  greatest  physical  evils 
in  human  life, — the  lack  of  bread  and  the  enslaving  con- 
dition of  continuous  toil, — men  would  long  for  the  out- 
pouring of  the  spirit  of  God.  The  high-minded  man 
does  so;  the  average  man,  however,  does  not. 

Hence  we  find  in  these  prosperous  days  that  abomi- 
nation known  as  the  idle  rich,  who,  because  idle,  become 
"an  -ally  of  Satan,  a  friend  of  the  devil."  The  unoccupied 
rich  find  mischief  with  which  to  occupy  themselves,  and 
instead  of  devoting  some  time  to  the  development  of 
their  mind,  to  the  upbuilding  within  them  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  God's  spirit;  instead  of  reading,  thinking,  writ- 
ing, serving  others,  they  make  all  things  minister,  not 
to  their  happiness,  but  to  their  pleasure.  If  the  Prophet 
had  stated  that  this  was  to"  be  what  God  promised,  then 
had  he  been  an  outrageous  teacher.  But  the  Prophet 

11 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

assured   his   hearers   that,   when   prosperity   had    come, 
God  would  bathe  the  people  in  His  spirit. 

Joel's  Dream  Yet  to  Be  Realized  Universally. 

Joel's  dream  may  have  been  realized  in  his  day,  but 
it  has  not  yet  come  true  of  all  mankind.  Nor  will  it  ever 
be  realized  among  all  men,  until  education  is  so  wide- 
spread and  common  sense  is  so  general  that  we  under- 
stand that  pleasure,  happiness  and  blessing  do  not  sig- 
nify the  same  things.  For  there  is  no  blessing  but  leads 
us  to  God ;  while  pleasure,  as  ordinarily  understood, 
rarely  has  the  same  effect.  There. is  no  real  happiness 
without  God,  while  pleasure,  indulged  in  forgetfulness 
of  God  can  never  bring  blessing.  The  Prophet  indicates 
this  unmistakably,  and  he  proves  himself  worthy  of 
bein£  our  teacher  because  he  is  so  sane,  so  rational,  so 
radical,  and  at  the  same  time,  so  full  of  idealism. 

Prophets  Fathers  of  Aspiration. 

It  is  to  men  like  Joel  that  the  world  owes  all  that 
it  has  of  permanent  good.  Previous  to  the  appearance 
of  our  Prophets,  true  spiritual  aspiration  had  received 
practically  no  expression.  Previous  to  the  day  when 
our  great  teachers  stood  on  the  hillsides  of  Judea  and 
wandered  amid  the  fields  of  Samaria,  no  man  had  risen  to 
give  expression  to  the  longings  of  the  human  soul.  The- 
Egyptian  P>ook  of  the  Dead,  the  Bible  of  ancient  Egypt, 
holds  out  to  man  no  ideals.  Its  old  men  did  not  dream 
dreams ;  its  young  men  did  not  see  visions ;  its  servants 

12 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

and  handmaids  were  slaves  unmoved  by  the  holy  spirit 
of  God.  The  Code  of  Hammurabi  of  Babylon,  which  is 
said  by  some  to  be  the  source  of  our  Torah,  holds  out 
no  promise  of  social  ameloriatfon.  It  contains  a  series 
of  rules  and  regulations  concerning  sales  of  land  and 
commodities.  It  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  elementary  justice 
such  as  is  found  in  border  communities.  But  there  is 
no  vision,  no  dream. 

It  is  a  Moses  who  holds  before  the  eyes  of  his  op- 
pressed people  the  vision  of  "a  land  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey,"  a  Promised  Land,  whither  the  slaves  shall 
be  taken,  and  where  they  may  be  free  to  gain  every 
form  of  liberty.  Only  when  this  great  master  in  Israel 
appeared  was  the  imagination  stirred  by  the  hope  of  hu- 
man equality.  Only  when  this  greatest  of  teachers 
brought  his  law  from  Sinai's  heights  did  men  hear  that 
there  must  be  one  law  for  home  born  and  foreigner,  only 
then  did  they  learn  that  the  land  belongs  to  the  people 
forever  and  cannot  justly  be  alienated  from  them.  Then, 
only,  for  the  first  time,  was  a  democratic  ideal  expressed 
in  behalf  of  humanity.  He  was  among  the  very  first  to 
guide  his  ship  to  "The  Isle  of  Dreams,"  where,  in  visions 
by  day  and  night,  he  saw  a  regenerated  .society  in  which 
justice  mingled  with  love  should  produce  a  truly  pros- 
perous and  blessed  human  state. 

Prophetic  Promises  Apply  to  All. 

When,  in  course  of  time,  he  was  succeeded  by  his 
companions  in  spirit,  the  sublime  band  of  idealists,  the 

13 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

Prophets,  they  but  took  up  his  parable  and  elaborated 
it.  They  descant  in  tropes  on  the  vision  of  the  blessed 
future;  and  never  forget,  sons  and  daughters  of  Israel, 
that  he  lies  who  tells  you  that  the  great  blessings,  which 
are  to  be  Israel's  when  the  Messiah  comes,  were  prom- 
ised only  for  Jews.  "In  those  days,  God  will  pour  out 
His  spirit  upon  all  flesh,"  says  Joel.  "It  shall  come  in 
the  fullness  of  time,  that  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's 
house  shall  be  established  in  the  top  of  the  mountains, 
and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it."  Never  forget  that 
the  glories  of  the  Messianic  kingdom  are  to  be  shared 
by  Israel  and  the  nations,  as  might  be  shown  by  many 
citations  from  our  Scriptures. 

Therefore,  when  in  the  process  of  time,  the  harvest 
was  ripe,  and  when  the  day  had  come  when  Israel  was 
to  share  his  blessings  with  humanity;  when  a  prosperous 
economic  period  prevailed  throughout  the  world;  when 
the  inspiring-  visions  of  Israel  had  multiplied  and  grown 
miring  many  centuries;  when  Rome  had  built  lines  of 
communication  throughout  her  Empire  in  the  form  of 
such  n>ads  as  the  Appian  Way,  the  ancient  arteries  of 
travel  and  traffic;  when,  she  had  done  for  her  day  what 
we  have  (lone  in  our  clay  by  building  railroads  and  in- 
stalling telegraphic  systems;  when,  in  a  word,  Rome 
had.  to  the  limit  of  the  possibilities  of  her  day,  drawn 
the  ends  of  the  world  near  to  one  another,  then  it  was 
comparatively  easy  for  men  to  communicate  with  one. 
another  and  share  the  fruits  of  their  toil  and  soul. 

Forth  from   Palestine  went  a  handful  of  men  who 
preached  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God.     Whether 


14 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

inspired  by  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  or  by  Jesus  and 
his  Apostles,  they  saw  visions,  they  dreamed  dreams, 
and  promised,  in  the  name  of  God,  that  the  day  should 
come  when  man  would  be  spiritually  free,  and  also  free 
from  the  burdens  of  poverty,  from  the  inequalities  of 
social  life,  from  the  difficulties  that  result  from  the  lack 
of  food. 

The  Establishment  of  the  Messianic  Kingdom. 

They  promised  that  the  Messianic  kingdom  will, 
some  day,  be  established,  and  the  method  of  its  estab- 
lishment presents  one  of  the  most  interesting  themes 
that  has  ever  engaged  the  attention  of  mankind.  What 
was  it  that  these  dreamers  saw,  that  these  seers  beheld, 
which  other  men  did  not  behold  or  see?  What  was  the 
essence  of  their  dreams?  They  saw  that  men  were  im- 
moral ;  and  they  knew  that  immortality  always  brings 
curse,  that  it  is  impossible  for  an  immoral  man  to  be 
blessed.  Now,  by  immorality,  they  meant  not  only  the 
sins  against  the  laws  of  sex  life,  which  were  certainly 
no  fewer  in  their  day  than  in  ours.  Of  course,  they  con- 
demned these  delinquencies.  They  inveighed  against  "a 
man  and  his  son  visiting  the  same  house  of  ill-fame." 
They  reproached  men  "who  neighed  like  stallions  after 
their  neighbors'  wives."  They  denounced  those  who 
were  false  to  their  marriage  vow.  They  bitterly  con- 
demned the  harlot  and  her  partner.  They  felt,  in  every 
respect,  about  immorality  as  do  the  most  loyal,  faithful 
and  constant  husbands,  wives  and  parents  in  our  day. 


15 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

Social  Conditions  Denounced. 

Hut  they  did  not  stop  there.  They  associated  mo- 
rality not  only  with  sexual  purity,  but  likewise  with 
commercial  integrity,  industrial  probity,  social  justice 
and  national  honor.  Immorality,  to  them,  meant  all 
th<>-e  adverse  conditions  which,  obstinately  persisted  in, 
degrade  and  debase  the  life  of  the  nation.  They  de- 
clared that  it  was  contrary  to  the  will  of  God  "to  grind 
the  faces  of  the  poor."  They  inveighed  most  bitterly, 
never  against  money,  but  against  the  shocking  uses  to 
which  men  put  their  money.  You  cannot  read  a  page  of 
Isaiah.  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  or  of  the  Minor  Prophets, 
from  Amos  to  Malachi,  but  you  will  find  that  they  were 
a  unit  in  their  denunciation  of  immorality  in  business, 
in  their  arraignment  of  offenders  who,  in  the  relations 
of  the  daily  affairs  of  life,  trick,  cheat,  deceive,  misrepre- 
sent or  rob.  They  placed  the  emphasis  on  the  moral 
conditions  of  human  life,  and  they  insisted  that  without 
morality  there  could  not  be  progress. 

Political  Conditions  Denounced. 

X«»r  did  they  stop  there.  They  fiercely  protested 
against  the  political  conditions  of  their  day.  They  saw 
the  strong  oppressing  the  weak.  They  saw,  to  employ 
modern  terms  to  interpret  an  ancient  situation,  men  buy- 
ing legislation.  They  observed  how  men  used  their  influ- 
ence.— whether  their  position,  their  wealth,  their  station, 
or  what  not, — to  prevent  justice,  how  they  "put  bitter  for 
sweet  and  sweet  for  bitter,"  so  that  "where  one  looked 


16 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

for  justice  they  found  a  stench,"  and  how  ''in  the  place 
where  one  looked  for  righteousness  iniquity  was  there." 
They  saw  kings  without  bowels  of  pity,  monarchs  who 
were  tyrants.  In  places  of  power  they  beheld  despots, 
and  they  hurled  against  them  the  thunderbolt  of  their 
indignation. 

Economic  Conditions   Deplored. 

They  also  saw  that  general  economic  conditions 
were  wrong,  and  they  made  it  clear  that  inequity  is  in- 
iquity. They  left  no  doubt  that  wherever  there  is  an 
unjust  economic  pressure  upon  a  nation,  there  cannot  be 
peace,  and  without  peace  a  nation  is  doomed.  To  repeat 
the  aphorism  already  used  this  morning,  man  lives  not 
by  bread  alone,  but  he  cannot  live  without  bread.  To 
deprive  men,  by  unjust  methods  of  any  kind,  of  their 
full  measure  of  food  purchased  by  the  product  of  their 
labor,  was  a  crime  which  they  denounced  in  the  name  of 
God.  It  was  not  only  a  crime,  but  a  sin.  In  their  day 
some  men  used  "diverse  weights,"  made  "the  ephah 
small  and  the  shekel  great,"  depressed  the  .currency  and 
inflated  prices,  and  the  Prophets  arraigned  them  before 
the  bar  of  justice  and  honesty  as  we  denounce  those  who 
give  a  short  ton  for  the  price  of  a  long  ton,  or  attach 
lead  to  the  side  of  the  balance  in  v\  hich  goods  are 
weighed,  or  who  use  bottles  with  false  glass  bottoms. 
The  sin,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Prophets,  lay  not  only  in  the 
palpable  dishonesty,  but  in  the  greater  wrong  of  robbing 
men  of  their  economic  liberty.  For  he  who  unjustly 
withholds  the  "full  measure,  pressed  down  and  running 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

over,"  in  return  for  the  full  price  paid,  is  no  better  than 
a  clipper  and  sweater  of  coin;  he  is  a  mean  thief,  a  de- 
spicable robber. 

How  to  Improve  Society. 

lln\v,  then,  are  these  conditions  to  be  improved? 
What  can  he  done  to  overcome  these  immoral  relations, 
— exual  immorality,  commercial  immorality,  economic 
immorality,  political  immorality?  Aye,  what  is  to  be 
done?  The  Prophets  ascended  their  mountain  of  in- 
spiration and  they  dreamed;  for  forty  days  and  forty 
nights  they  spoke  with  God.  Or  they  dipped  the  oars 
of  their  argosies  and  rowed  over  the  ocean  of  thought, 
and  landed  upon  the  Isle  of  Dreams.  After  a  time  they 
returned  with  their  messages  to  society.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and  of  Jesus  and  the 
Apostles,  that  they  have  but  one  single  reply  to  the 
questions  just  asked.  We  can  improve  society  in  no 
way  but  by  religion.  This  is  the  answer  of  both  the 
Hebrew  and  the  Greek  Bibles.  When  religion  is  intro- 
duced into  social  life,  we  shall  have  the  improvements 
we  desire,  and  not  before. 

A  Simile. 

Come,  let  us  build  a  fire!  Let  us  get  great  logs 
from  the  forest!  Let  us  cut  down  for  them  trees,  the 
trees  which  have  stood  for  centuries.  Behold,  here  we* 
have  now  choice  wood  which  will  kindle  quickly,  and 
all  the  other  objects  with  which  to  fulfill  our  desire. 

18 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

Ah!  But  we  have  only  the  elements  of  the  fire;  not  yet 
have  we  the  fire.  Only  when  we  have  taken  our  tinder 
box  and  struck  our  flint,  or,  in  modern  fashion,  struck 
our  match  and  fired  our  papen,  will  we  get  a  fire.  Only 
when  we  have  converted  the  combustible  material  into 
living  flame  have  we  what  we  call  a  log  fire.  Human 
society  is  represented  by  these  dead  elements,  the  logs, 
the  kindling  wood,  the  paper,  the  match ;  until  we  trans- 
fuse into  them  the  spirit  of  God,  until  we  have  injected 
into  the  units  of  this  vast  mass  that  subtle  essence,  the 
spirit  of  religion,  we  have  no  society,  no  nation,  we  have 
not  even  man. 

What  Religion  Is. 

By  religion,  I  do  not  mean  what  currently  passes 
for  religion.  By  religion,  I  do  not  mean  church  service, 
although  so  many  think  that  they  are  religious  if  they 
go  to  church.  Some  of  the  worst  people  I  know  go  to 
church  most  frequently ;  some  of  the  best  people  I  know 
rarely  go  to  any  church.  Some  of  the  worst  people  I 
know  wear  large  crosses.  Some  of  the  best  pedple  I 
know  wear  no  emblems  or  insignia  of  their  faith.  Re- 
ligion does  not  mean  creed  and  dogma.  I  have  heard 
men  repeat  their  creed  with  great  fluency;  but  they  had 
no  more  understanding  of  the  true  significance  of  religion 
than  has  a  blind  student  of  botany  an  appreciation  of 
the  flower  he  has  never  seen.  Men  must  employ  terms 
to  express  the  spirit  within  them,  and  as  long  as  we  are 
human,  we  shall  need  some  statement  of  religious  prin- 
ciples; but  between  stating  principles  and  living  them 


19 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

there  lies  a  whole  world.  Religion  does  not  mean  creed. 
Religion  does  not  mean  church  going.  Religion  does 
not  mean  race.  Religion  does  not  mean  membership  in 
a  synagogue  or  church.  Religion  does  not  mean  saying 
long  prayers.  Religion  does  not  mean  any  of  these 
things. 

Religion  means  the  personal  recognition  of  God  in 
our  human  life  and  our  willingness  to  live  as  in  His 
presence.  Its  expression  will  vary  with  different  persons; 
but  this  is  the  essence  of  all  religion ;  the  rest  is  com- 
mentary. The  recognition  of,  and  belief  in,  a  God  .to 
whom  we  are  directly  and  personally  responsible ;  whose 
will  i-  supreme:  whose  law  must  be  discovered,  studied 
and  li\ed  by,  since  through  it  God  will  render  unto  every 
man  acc<»r;liug  to  the  fruit  of  his  own  doing;  that  is  the 
iKve--ary  feature  of  religion.  Everything  else  is  second- 
ary t<»  it. 

Were  one  to  come  to  me,  as  the  heathen  lad  came 
to  Hillel.  and  if  he  said  to  me,  "Teach  me  your  religion 
while  I  stand  on  one  foot,"  I  would  answer,  "There  is 
a  God,  a  supreme  and  infinite  Spirit,  of  whom  this  world 
is  a  manifestation  and  whose  will  is  expressed  in  the 
laws  of  nature.  Learn  them  and  study  them  and  live 
as  in  the  presence  of  your  father.  This  is  the  first  com- 
mandment; at  the  side  of  it  all  others  are  of  secondary 
importance."  We  know  that,  if  a  child  is  always  in  the 
presence  of  its  father  and  mother,  it  will,  as  a  rule,  con- 
duct itself  worthily.  It  will  do  no  immoral  act,  and  in- 
fringe no  injunction  of  the  parents  it  loves.  It  will,  as 


20 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

a  rule,  do  that  which  the  loving  parents  demand  of  it. 
Whenever  that  spirit,  which  is  religion,  will  be  intro- 
duced into  society  as  a  whole  the  dreams  of  prophets 
will  be  fulfilled  and  the  visions  of  seers  will  be  realized. 

The  Spartan  Dream. 

But  other  methods  have  also  been  suggested.  No 
sooner  had  the  prophets  and  their  messages  become 
known,  even  outside  of  Palestine,  when  some  strove  to 
introduce  a  perfect  system  in  society.  Plutarch,  for  in- 
stance, tells  us  that  Lycurgus  made  a  noble  effort  in 
this  direction.  Lycurgus  divided  the  land  into  equal 
portions  among  the  Spartans.  He  made  money  of  the 
basest  metal  only,  so  that  accumulations  should  be  un- 
desirable. He  introduced  that  Spartan  discipline  which 
has  become  proverbial.  When  children  were  born  he 
took  them  from  their  parents,  placing  the  strong  in 
charge  of  trained  nurses  and  having  the  weak  killed. 
He  put  the  Spartans  under  oath  to  continue  this  condi- 
tion for  all  time.  The  rich  were  made,  in  Mr.  Taft's 
remarkably  well-turned  phrase,  "moderately  poor,  and 
the  poor  were  made  moderately  rich."  But  the  vow  was 
not  observed;  wealth  soon  returned  and  with  it  the  con- 
ditions Lycurgus  had  sought  to  cure. 

The  Effort  of  the  Church. 

The  Roman  Catholic -Church  tried  for  more  than  a 
thousand  years  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  people 


21 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

of  Europe.  As  a  Jew,  as  a  descendant  of  those  Spanish 
Jews  who  suffered  at  the  hand  of  the  "Holy  Inquisition," 
I  have  no  special  reason  to  be  grateful  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  But  I  would  be  doing  violence  to  my 
conscience  did  I  not  declare  that,  in  spite  of  the  ill  treat- 
ment that  church  has  visited  everywhere  in  the  past  upon 
the  people  of  Israel,  when  we  were  in  the  minority  and 
they  in  the  majority,  I  cannot  deny  that  the  church  did 
have  its  holy  leaders,  its  pious  saints,  its  wonderful 
teachers  who  stood  for  democracy,  who  forced  Barba- 
rossa,  for  instance,  to  bend  his  knee  to  a  higher  au- 
thority than  savage  force. 

It  did  reduce  the  tyrant  and  compelled  him  to  realize 
that  he  was  not  a  god.  It  did  wed  the  Fine  Arts  to  the 
church.  It  was,  for  centuries,  the  most  generous  patron 
of  artist  and  sculptor,  of  poet  and  painter  and  architect. 
Whatever  charge  might  be  brought  against  the  Catholic 
Church  because  of  its  persecution  of  the  Jews,  we  should, 
in  all  fairness,  thank  it  for  rendering  a  wonderful  influ- 
ence in  holding  before  bestial,  brutal,  savage  Europe  of 
the  Dark  Ages,  the  ideals  of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles 
of  Scripture. 

Other  Social  Dreams. 

Seeing  that  actual  conditions  did  not  equal  man's 
deserts,  and  hoping  for  better  things,  secular  prophets 
drew  pictures  of  a  happier  time  in  works  which  have 
become  justly  famous.  Thus  Plato  drew  the  fictitious 
lines  of  his  "Republic."  Thus  Sir  Thomas  More  wrote 


22 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

his  "Utopia,"  and  he  dreamed,  even  in  his  day  of  a  work- 
ing day  of  six  hours,  in  a  land  where  men  and  women 
were  perfectly  happy.  But  he  called  that  land  "Utopia," 
a  name  derived  from  two  Greek  words,  which  mean  "No 
Place."  He  himself  realized  that  he  was  on  "the  Isle  of 
Dreams"  when  he  described  Utopia.  Thus  Campanella 
wrote  the  inspiring  lines  of  his  "City  of  the  Sun,"  and 
Bacon  wrote  of  ideal  conditions  in  his  "New  Atlantis." 
Within  more  recent  times  Edward  Bellamy  produced  his 
remarkable  book,  "Looking  Backward,"  and  his  still 
more  interesting  work,  "Equality,"  in  which  he  foretold 
a  reign  of  peace  and  happiness  for  all  the  children  of 
men. 

What  the  Dream  Signifies. 

Behold  the  dream !  Men  at  peace,  men  beyond  want, 
men  happy,  men  contented,  all  men  living  in  a  pleasant 
valley,  where  each  has  his  own  vine  and  his  own  fig  tree 
and  where  none  make  him  afraid!  Behold  the  dream! 
Rich  men  good,  poor  men  good,  everybody  religious! 
Behold  the  dream,  and  let  it  expand  your  hearts  and  up- 
lift your  hopes !  The  time  shall  come  when  God's  spirit 
shall  be  poured  out  upon  all  flesh,  and  when  all  men, 
men  who  already  have  one  foot  in  the  grave,  as  we  say, 
will  not  believe  that  life  has  no  further  meaning  for 
them ;  but  old  men  shall  dream  dreams  of  future  happi- 
ness and  young  men  shall  gain  visions  of  coming  amelio- 
ration ! 

Let  us  indulge  these  dreams !     The  dreamer  is  so- 
23 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

ciety's  greatest  asset,  and  not  the  man  who  merely  ful- 
fills the  day's  alloted  task  of  physical  toil.  "It  is  the 
function  of  genius  to  indicate  to  lesser  minds  the  paths 
they  must  pursue,"  says  Emerson ;  and  it  is  the  function 
of  the  dreamer  to  see  that  which  others  must  yet  come 
to  see. 

Modern  Conditions. 

When  we  look  around  us  today  upon  the  conditions 
which  prevail :  when  we  see  poverty  and  degradation 
and  filth  and  immorality;  when  we  see  the  abuses  of  the 
rich  and  the  great  want  among  the  poor;  when  we  see 
poverty  stalking  even  in  our  rich,  fertile  and  fruitful 
land  only  a  hundred  years  old;  when  we  see  the  wealth 
of  the  nation  controlled  by  an  infinitessimally  small  per- 
centage of  its  people  and  when  we  know  that  not  more 
than  ten  per  cent  of  a  free  people  in  a  country  like  Amer- 
ica are  three  months  beyond  the  margin  of  want;  when 
we  enter  the  hovels  of  the  poor  and  observe  the  degrad- 
ing penury  and  griping  want  which  afflict  their  inmates; 
when  we  see  men  crazed  with  avarice  and  women  viler 
than  beasts ;  when  we  see  honest  workers  bound  by  an 
iron  law  to  eke  out  a  mere  existence,  while  those  who 
employ  them  have  not  bowels  of  sympathy ;  we  feel  like 
Dante  when  he  took  the  hand  of  Virgil  and  was  about 
to  enter  the  nether  regions  over  the  entrance  of  which 
was  written,  "Abandon  hope  all  ye  who  enter  here." 

Not  Without  Hope. 
\Yere   it   not   for  an  occasional  trip  to  the  Isle  of 

24 


The  Isle  of  Dreams 

Dreams,  we  would  indeed  feel  that  the  world  was  with- 
out hope,  that  there  was  naught  left  but  to  curse  God 
and  die.  Fortunately  "hope  springs  eternal  in  the  hu- 
man breast."  Fortunately  we  know  that  this  world  is 
not  left  to  chance,  but  that  the  spirit  of  God  operates  in 
it  through  natural  law.  Our  hope  of  amelioration  is 
based  not  upon  the  false  dreams  of  lying  prophets  who 
would  transfer  the  realization  of  our  hopes  from  this  to 
some  other  world.  Our  faith  in  the  future  is  not  based 
upon  a  vain  gospel  of  vicarious  atonement,  which  would 
transfer  the  burden  from  the  sinner  to  the  unsinning; 
but  our  hope  is  rooted  in  faith  in  the  natural  law  of  the 
universe,  the  law  of  God,  whose  will  will  be  performed, 
predatory  rich  and  corporate  power  and  crooked  politi- 
cian, notwithstanding. 

No  Pleasant  Valley. 

It  is  our  faith  that,  as  we  study  economic  theories 
in  the  light  of  religion,  we  shall  discover  some  law  which 
we  must  obey,  and  obedience  to  which  will  bring  every 
prophecy  to  realization  and  every  hope  to  fulfilment. 
Prosperity  is  sometimes  a  proof  of  the  observance  of 
this  law.  Success,  if  properly  understood,  is  worth  while 
striving  for.  Resolved  that  we  shall  come  out  of  an 
Egyptian  bondage  into  a  Land  of  Promise,  we  realize 
that  Rockefeller  was  quite  right  when  he  said  that  "Suc- 
cess knows  no  eight-hour  law."  We  know  that  we  must 
toil  and  labor  on  in  hope  and  faith  and  patience.  We 
are  never  promised  in  the  Bible  that  we  shall,  while  liv- 
ing, enter  some  valley  of  contentment.  God  may  lead 

25 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

us  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow.  He  may  make  us 
lie  down  in  the  green  pastures  and  lead  us  by  the  still 
waters  in  times  of  trial ;  but  He  means  to  lead  us  out  of 
the  valley  on  to  the  hillsides. 

On  the  Heights. 

When  Scripture  seeks  an  illustration  of  the  truly 
good  man  acceptable  to  God,  it  does  not  ask,  "Lord,  who 
shall  abide  in  Thy  tabernacle,  who  shall  dwell  in  the 
pleasant  valley?"  But  it  does  ask,  "Lord,  who  shall 
abide  in  Thy  tabernacle,  who  shall  stand  in  Thy  holy 
hill?"  Mankind  must  ascend.  We  are  to  climb  the  hill. 
It  may  mean  pain  and  effort;  it  may  mean  the  putting 
forth  of  force  and  the  expenditure  of  energy.  It  may 
mean  that  we  may  fall  by  the  wayside,  and  go  down  un- 
der our  burdens.  But  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  we  shall 
not  abide  in  the  valley  of  bovine  contentment.  We  are 
to  climb  the  hillside  whence  the  vision  becomes  brighter 
and  wider  and  grander  with  every  upward  step.  Blessed 
they  who  dream  such  dreams.  Blessed  they  who  see 
such  visions.  In  God's  way  and  in  God's  time,  every 
such  dream  shall  come  to  pass  and  every  such  vision 
shall  be  realized. 


26 


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Annex 


RELIGION  AND  SOCIAL  THEORIES 


II.— The  Failure  of  Communism.' 


AN  ADDRESS   IN  THE   RODEF  SHALOM  TEMPLE 
PITTSBURGH,  SUNDAY,  JANUARY  12,   1913. 


Scripture  Reading:  Leviticus  xix. 


Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.     (Leviticus  xiv.,  18.) 


The  excuse  for  society's  failure  to  make  the  actual 
equal  the  ideal  often  takes  the  form  of  an  apology  that 
we  are  passing  through  a  transition  state :  that  the  end 
is  not  yet  here;  that  we  are  witnessing  great  changes 
which  portend  the  end  of  the  old  and  the  advent  of  the 
new  conditions;  and  since  the  final  crystallization  is  not 
yet  here  we  must  abide  in  faith  and  patience. 


*By  the   Rev.   J.   Leonard   Levy,   Rabbi  of  the   Congregation. 
Stenographically  reported  by  Caroline  Loewenthal. 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

Changing  States  of  Society. 

Transition  periods  are  often  of  very  long  duration. 
Generally,  only  long  after  the  flight  of  many  decades, 
sometimes  centuries,  are  we  able  to  observe  that  we  have 
emerged  from  one  system  and  passed  to  another.  We 
now  sec  quite  clearly,  for  instance,  that  ownership  in 
human  bcinprs  has  disappeared  from  civilized  society,  al- 
though it  existed  under  the  British  flag  until  1833,  when 
liishop  Wilberl'orce  successfully  led  the  revolt  which  re-' 
suited  in  the  abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  and  in  the 
I'nited  States  until  1863  when,  just  fifty  years  ago,  Lin- 
coln issued  his  famous  Emancipation  Proclamation.  We 
see  distinctly  that  slavery,  or  ownership  in  human  prop- 
erty, has  gone  forever.  So,  too,  a  few  centuries  ago,  men 
lived,  even  in  civilized  lands,  in  a  feudal  state.  While 
property  was  held  by  a  few,  and  while  those  who  worked 
on  that  property  were  supposedly  free,  yet,  since  those 
who  labored  were  entirely  dominated  by  their  employers, 
they  were  only  seemingly  free.  Feudalism  has  prevailed 
for  many  centuries,  and  it  is  said  by  keen  and  close  ob- 
servers that  we  are  now  passing  from  feudalism  into  a 
new  social  order. 

Transition  Periods. 

Two  or  three  recent  circumstances  make  it  very  ap- 
parent that  the  transition  period  is  closing  and  a  new 
order  is  about  to  be  born.  In  1898,  after  the  battle  of 
Manilla,  and  again  after  the  sea-fight  at  Santiago,  the 
American  people  became  exceedingly  enthusiastic  over 


28 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

the  idea  of  imperialism.  Mr.  Bryan  became,  wisely  I 
think,  the  outspoken  foe  of  imperialism;  but  the  mass  of 
the  American  people  were  led  astray  by  glib  and  elo- 
quent speakers  into  the  belief  that  the  larger  country 
meant  the  greater  people.  Many  began  to  speak  of  "the 
American  empire,"  the  "possessions  beyond  the  sea," 
referring  to  the  Phillipine  Islands  and  Hawaii  and  Porto 
Rico,  as  though  we  were  another  Britain.  Only  fifteen 
years  have  passed  since  the  Spanish- American  War;  no 
one  speaks  of  imperialism  today.  Thoughtful  Americans 
have  had  their  mind  diverted  from  empire  beyond  the 
seas  to  the  matter  of  social  welfare.  "How  is  it  at 
home?"  This  is  the  question  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  thinking  Americans. 

A  New  Order  of  Social  Theory. 

In  1899  the  British  people  entered  upon  a  nefarious 
war  in  South  Africa.  After  the  encounter  with  the 
Boers  was  over,  and  after  the  glorious  (?)  victory  had 
been  gained  in  which  250,000  trained  soldiers  conquered 
4 0,000  people  armed  for  self-defense,  the  British  people, 
under  the  leadership  of  Joseph  Chamberlain,  began  to 
dream  of  a  scheme  of  imperialism.  No  less  great  a  man 
than  the  Earl  of  Rosebery  suggested  that,  instead  of  the 
national  parliament  which  now  meets  in  London  an  im- 
perial parliament,  in  which  New  Zealand,  Australia, 
India,  Canada,  and  other  British  possessions  beyond  the 
seas  should  seat  their  representatives,  should  meet  at  St. 
Stephens.  In  1906,  a  few  jears  after  the  close  of  the 
Boer  War,  the  mind  of  the  British  people  was  turned 


29 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

from  thoughts  of  imperialism,  while  men  like  Winston 
Churchill  and  David  Lloyd  George  have  brought  it  back 
to  earth,  compelling  it  to  understand  that  empire  abroad 
with  discontent,  while  poverty  and  misery  reign  at  home, 
is  a  vain  and  delusive  hope.  No  question  which  is  agi- 
tating the  mind  of  the  average  Britisher  today  compares 
in  importance  to  that  of  social  welfare, — the  happiness 
of  the  average  man,  the  contentment  of  the  masses,  the 
peace  and  progress  of  the  dispossessed  classes. 

Social  Welfare. 

I  am  not  considering  persons  who  have  a  liberal  in- 
come of,  say,  two  thousand  dollars  or  more  a  year.  I  am 
speaking  of  the  average  individual  in  America  who  makes 
far  less  than  $40  a  week,  sometimes  but  a  fourth  of  that 
amount,  sometimes  only  a  tenth  of  it.  We  must  consider 
the  welfare  of  those  who  are  found  among  the  weak,  the 
submerged  classes;  not  paupers,  but  poor  people;  people 
who,  if  out  of  employment  for  a  brief  space  of  time,  must 
starve  or  beg.  I  shall  not  cite  as  general  illustrations  the 
comparatively  few  instances  of  employers  who  succeed  in 
making  vast  fortunes  often  as  a  result  of  the  low  wages 
paid  their  average  help ;  but  I  earnestly  invite  you  to 
consider  the  fact  that  there  are  in  the  United  States  con- 
siderably more  than  one-half  of  the  population  who  are 
always  within  a  few  months  of  want;  for  this  is  a  condi- 
tion most  alarming. 

After  all  the  toil  and  all  the  effort  of  man ;  after  all 
the  battles  which  have  been  waged  by  so  many  millions 


30 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

of  average  men  without  ever  receiving  credit,  honor  or 
glory;  after  all  the  suffering  endured  by  the  submerged 
tenth,  "the  other  half"  of  human  society,  it  does  seem 
sad  that  self-respecting,  decent  men,  who  are  willing  to 
labor  and  anxious  to  toil,  through  no  fault  of  their  own 
except  that  they  have  too  long  submitted  to  an  iniquitious 
social  system,  are  compelled  to  live  with  the  wolf  of  want 
staring  them  in  the  face  from  youth  to  old  age,  from  birth 
to  death. 

Man's  Value  to  Society. 

A  great  dignity  and  a  high  value  attach  to  human 
life.  Each  individual  is  born  into  this  world  with  certain 
desires  and  appetites  which  should  receive  some  satis- 
faction before  he  leaves  it.  To  be  a  man, — and  of  course, 
his  companion,  woman,  is  included  in  the  general  phrase — 
means,  to  ethical  individuals  and  to  religious  persons,  a 
child  of  the  Highest,  a  product  of  the  sublimest  influences 
in  this  world.  To  be  a  man  means  to  be  an  animal  cre- 
ated, uplifted  and  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  the  eternal 
God  of  justice  and  love.  Such  a  creature  as  man,  the 
child  of  God,  ought  not  be  compelled  to  pass  a  life  which 
is  marked  by  no  high  hope,  by  naught  but  drudgery  of 
the  meanest  order,  by  nothing  which  brings  inspiration 
or  stirs  ambition,  if  a  change  of  conditions  can  result  in 
improvement  of  circumstances. 

Every  impulse  which  differentiates  man  from  the 
beast  should  move  those  who  can  influence  others  to  strive 
for  social  amelioration,  to  the  end  that  the  God  in  man 


31 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

be  given  opportunity  to  express  itself.  Too  long  have 
men  been  actuated  by  a  blind  fatalism  which  has  accepted 
a  changing  state  as  a  fixed  condition.  Whatever  else  may 
pass  away,  we  must  strive  to  maintain  the  dignity  of 
man  as  the  child  of  God.  This  is  a  permanent  asset  in 
human  experience,  and  all  social  effort  must  be  directed 
toward  it. 

Something  More  than  to  Live. 

It  is  nowhere  written  that  a  man  must  live.  It  is 
often  said  by  those  who  would  justify  themselves  after 
sonic  crime  lias  been  committed,  or  after  wrongdoing  or 
trickery  lias  been  practiced,  "A  man  must  live."  I  deny 
that  proposition.  It  is  nowhere  written,  except  as  a  doc- 
trine of  animalism,  that  a  man  has  to  live.  The  greatest 
and  the  grandest  exemplars  of  mankind  died  as  martyrs 
when  they  could  have  lived  if  they  had  wished.  They 
did  not  shield  themselves  behind  the  false  philosophy  of 
mere  animalism  that  man  must  live.  A  man  must  live 
true  to  his  convictions,  and  if  that  truth  lead  him  to  a 
martyr's  death;  or  worse,  he  must  be  ready  to  face  the 
issue.  Until  that  type  of  individual  is  commonly  found 
on  earth  we  should  not  talk  about  "man."  We  may 
speak  about  monkeys  in  human  form.  We  may  discuss 
hogs  in  the  shape  of  individuals,  but  they  are  not  really 
men  who  are  not  prepared  to  maintain  their  convictions 
even  if  called  upon  to  die  in  their  defense. 

Man  Dies;  Mankind  Lives. 

Man  can  die  for  an  idea;  that  is  his  glory.  He  ought 
to  be  willing  to  die  for  that  which  is  more  than  bread ;  but 


32 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

though  man  can  die,  mankind  cannot.  The  human  race 
must  be  perpetuated.  The  human  family  must  continue. 
Individuals  may  pass  away ;  but  the  community  must  con- 
tinue. In  the  endeavor  to  institute  a  high  form  of  civil- 
ized society,  we  have,  after  many,  many  failures  and  after 
unending  struggle,  succeeded  in  rearing  for  mankind  a 
few  helpful  institutions.  We  have  stumbled  along  the 
way;  we  have  erred  and  we  have  failed;  but  out  of  the 
wreck  of  human  effort,  we  have  been  able  to  save  that 
most  important  institution,  the  family. 

The  Family. 

In  any  economic  discussion  into  which  I  may  be  led 
as  a  teacher,  there  lies  deep  in  my  consciousness  a  respect 
for  the  family  which  resists  every  attempt  and  argument 
to  dislodge  it.  I  hope  you  feel  the  same.  That  one  man 
should  separate  himself  from  the  rest  of  society  for  one 
woman,  and  that  they,  out  of  the  reverence  and  love  each 
bears  the  other,  should  be  willing  to  rear  a  family;  and 
that,  out  of  the  affection  they  have  for  the  children  of 
their  love,  they  may  be  willing  to  toil  and  to  struggle, 
to  give  their  offspring  position  and  opportunity, — this,  to 
my  mind,  is  an  approximately  ideal  state  to  which  we 
have  at  last  attained  and  which  should  be  preserved  at  all 
hazards.  Sacrifice  what  you  will  for  the  sake  of  economic 
advantage ;  do  not  sacrifice  the  family !  Any  movement,  or 
undertaking,  or  theory,  or  plan,  which  may  interfere  in 
the  slightest  way  with  the  perpetuity  of  the  institution 
called  the  family  is,  to  my  mind,  a  delusive  hope,  a  dan- 
gerous suggestion  fraught  with  horror  and  destruction  to 
society. 

33 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

Social  Discontent. 

The  modern  world  is  out  of  joint.  There  are  many 
things  in  it  exceedingly  wrong,  and  he  indeed  must  be 
deaf  to  the  appeal  of  justice  and  have  a  heart  so  fattened 
by  prosperity  that  he  has  no  sentiment,  who  is  satisfied 
with  today's  conditions.  When,  as  you  have  often  heard, 
the  princess  in  Paris,  just  before  the  Revolution,  said, 
"If  the  people  cannot  get  bread,  why  don't  they  eat 
cake.''  she  deserved,  for  her  stupidity,  to  lose  her  head. 
When  Foulon,  as  you  have  often  heard,  said,  "If  the  peo- 
ple cannot  eat  bread,  let  them  eat  grass,"  he  deserved, 
for  his  heartlessness,  to  have  his  head  removed  when  the 
Involution  broke  out. 

Not  To  Be  Ignored. 

It  is  all  very  well  for  people  who  have  met  with  finan- 
cial success  in  life,  to  sit  at  home  and  toast  their  feet  be- 
fore comfortable  fires  and  express  satisfaction  with  life. 
Tt  is  all  very  well  for  those  who  have  a  high  degree  of 
abundance  to  look  out  of  their  windows  and  say  how  fair 
the  world  is.  It  is  all  very  well  for  men  who  have  been 
able,  by  their  just  efforts,  if  you  will,  to  provide  against 
want  in  old  age,  to  say,  "this  world  suits  me  first  rate." 
T  know  that  there  are  many  who  complain  against  the  so- 
cial order  unjustly;  that  there  are  many  who  "have 
brought  their  own  misfortunes  upon  themselves;  that 
there  are  many  who,  in  the  days  of  summer,  forget  there 
is  to  be  a  winter.  I  know  that  there  are  many  who  do  not 
deserve  the  slightest  commiseration  at  the  hands  of  those 


34 


The  Failure  of  Communism 
r 

who  must  be  as  flint  in  arranging  a  just  social  order.  But 
at  the  same  time,  there  are  conditions  in  life  so  palpably 
unjust,  there  are  circumstances  prevailing  in  the  highest 
civilized  lands  that  are  so  clearly  iniquitious  and  inequit- 
able, that  any  man  who  states  that  this  is  not  only  the 
best  of  all  worlds,  but  that  the  conditions  under  which 
we  live  are  most  desirable,  felicitous  and  seemly,  deserves 
a  fate  little  better  than  that  which  befell  the  French 
princess  and  Foulon. 

What  is  Wrong? 

What  is  the  matter  with  the  world?  What  is  wrong 
with  mankind?  Why  this  social  unrest?  Why  this  per- 
sistence of  social  disorder?  Why  these  demands?  So- 
ciety is  suffering  from  a  disease.  The  name  of  that  dis- 
ease no  one  has  yet  told.  It  has  not  yet  been  properly 
diagnosed  although  we  know  its  symptoms ;  some  day  we 
shall  be  able  to  find  the  cause,  hidden  and  recondite 
though  it  now  be.  The  symptoms  are  as  clear  as  daylight, 
but  it  is  good  medicine  never  to  treat  symptoms.  S'o 
many  people,  to  their  undoing,  fall  into  the  hands  of  poor 
physicians  who  insist  upon  treating  symptoms. 

Treat  the  Disease,  Not  the  Symptoms. 

Let  me  illustrate  what  I  mean.  A  sick  person  visits 
a  doctor.  The  physician  feels  the  pulse,  examines  the 
tongue,  may  even  be  thoughtful  enough  to  make  a  blood 
culture  and  to  seek  other  means  of  obtaining  information 
to  discover  if  the  kidneys  and  liver  are  performing  their 


35 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

functions.  He  asks  his  patient,  ''How  do  you  feel?" 
"Oh,"  says  he,  "I  have  a  headache."  "That's  nothing," 
says  the  doctor,  "take  a  few  of  these  powders  and  you'll 
be  alright  in  a  day  or  so."  The  headache  disappears,  and 
the  patient  imagines  that  he  is  cured.  He  forgets  that  it 
is  the  cause  of  the  headache  that  must  be  treated,  rather 
than  the  headache  itself.  We  never  have  a  headache  with- 
out a  cause.  We  never  have  a  pain  in  any  part  of  our 
body  without  a  reason.  One  who  is  perfectly  healthy, 
who,  for  instance,  has  sound  lungs  and  a  normal  heart, 
is  never  conscious  of  them,  and  one  whose  kidneys  and 
liver  are  healthy  never  realizes  that  he  has  such  organs. 
They  perform  their  functions  without  our  noticing  them. 
It',  therefore,  there  is  a  disturbance,  it  is  not  the  symp- 
toms which  should  be  treated  but  the  organ  which  is  dis- 
eased, or  whose  functions  are  disordered. 

The  Three  Symptoms  of  the  Disease. 

We  know  the  symptoms  of  modern  social  disease,  but 
we  have  not  yet  determined  its  cause.  The  symptoms  are 
three.  The  first  is  poverty ;  the  second  is  prostitution ;  the 
third  is  crime.  In  a  society  which  is  thousands  of  years 
old  ;  which  has  long  had  the  benefit  of  great  religious 
teachers ;  which  for  ages  has  been  upder  the  dominion 
of  saints,  popes,  ecclesiastics,  kings  and  emperors;  which 
has  had  at  its  disposal  all  the  necessary  resources  for  the 
maintenance  of  health;  in  such  a  society  there  is  no  valid- 
reason  why  today  poverty  should  continue,  prostitution 
should  endure,  and  crime  should  exist. 


36 


The  Failure  of  Communism 
Where  Lies  the  Cure? 

The  average  man  will  say,  "These  evils  have  always 
existed  and  therefore  they  are  always  going  to  exist. ' '  I 
do  not  believe  that.  There  are  many  evils  that  used  to 
exist  but  which  do  not  now  exist.  Slavery  used  to  exist ; 
it  is  never  going  to  exist  again.  The  ownership  of  human 
flesh  was  once  held  ,to  be  a  means  of  industrial  progress, 
but  it  is  removed  forever;  and  just  as  slavery  passed 
away,  Just  so  surely  poverty  and  prostitution  and  crime, 
the  three  pressing  social  evils  or  diseases,  are  going  to' 
pass  away.  Here  are  the  diseases !  Where  is  the  path  we 
should  follow  to  establish  social  health  ?  Who  is  the  Doc- 
tor? What  is  his  mode  of  cure?  How  can  society  be  di- 
rected to  normal  health? 

Opponents  to  All  Remedies. 

Various  schemes  are  proposed,  but  before  we  discuss 
them,  a  few  preliminary  words  are  necessary.  Whatever 
scheme  of  amelioration  may  be  suggested  will  immedi- 
ately meet  with  objections  by  somebody;  and  that  some- 
body will  always  be  a  person  who  has  one  of  two  char- 
acteristics. He  is  either  satisfied  with  conditions  now 
prevailing,  and  therefore  wishes  to  maintain  the  status 
quo ;  or  he  is  too  stupid,  too  indolent,  too  oxlike  to  bother 
his  head.  He  answers  as  the  newly-enfranchised  slaves 
said  to  Moses,  "Leave  us  alone!  It  is  better  to  serve  the 
Egyptians  than  to  die  in  the  wilderness."  The  man  who 
is  quite  satisfied  with  his-  circumstances  cannot  under- 
stand that  anyone  can  be  dissatisfied.  Arguing  from  his 


37 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

personal  standpoint,  as  most  people  do,  he  sees  no  rea- 
son for  dissatisfaction.  Having  all  he  desires,  he  asks, 
"Why  don't  people  thank  God  and  be  quiet?  The  status 
quo,  the  social  equilibrium,  ought  to  remain  as  it  is." 

Methods  of  the  Opposition.     * 

Moreover,  we  must  remember  that  those  who  are 
satisfied  employ  diverse  methods  of  assuring  those  who  are 
dissatisfied  and  those  who  cannot  and  will  not  think  that 
there  is  grave  danger  in  change.  One  of  the  famous,  or 
rather  infamous,  tricks  to  which  this  class  of  individuals 
resort  is  that  of  giving  an  ill  name  to  new  movements 
and  their  sponsors.  It  is  proverbial  that  "one  may  as 
well  hang  a  dog  as  give  it  a  bad  name." 

This,  for  example,  is  one  of  the  contemptible  means 
the  world  has  used  in  endeavoring  to  destroy  the  influ- 
ence of  Israel.  If  the  ideas  and  ideals  of  our  Prophets 
could  have  prevailed,  long  since  this  the  questions  which 
we  are  now  discussing  would  have  been  settled.  But 
the  iniquitous  status  quo  was  to  be  maintained ;  wherever 
the  Jew  has  gone  he  has  been  discontented  with  that 
status  quo  and  it  was,  therefore,  conceived  to  be  good 
policy  to  nullify  the  influence  of  the  Jew  by  giving  him 
a  bad  name. 

Wherever  the  Jew  has  gone  he  has  made  certain  de^ 
mands  for  Right  and  Liberty  which,  if  granted,  would 
disturb  the  prevailing  iniquitous  and  inequitable  condi- 
tions. The  party  of  privilege,  caste  and  vested  rights 


38 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

-I       i  I  !  • 
always  held  that  the  disturber  must  be  quelled  at  all  odds. 

"You  may  as  well  hang  a  dog  as  give  him  a  bad  name," 
and  the  pulpits,  the  religious  teachers  of  the  world,  have 
always,  with  but  rare  exceptions,  given  the  Jew  a  bad 
name.  If  today  the  liberty-dispensing,  the  equality-pro- 
ducing, the  fraternity-effecting  ideals  of  Israel  are  not 
exercising  the  influence  the  Jewish  movement  deserves, 
it  is  because  weaklings,  in  practically  every  religious  de- 
nomination, have,  chiefly  at  the  instigation  of  the  pulpits 
or  the  men  of  affairs  who  have  seen  in  the  Jew  a  keen 
competitor,  given  the  name  Jew  a  foul  significance. 

Destroying  Good  by  111  Names. 

Now,  this  is  exactly  how  they  have  treated  these 
economic  names  given  to  the  various  movements  for  so- 
cial ameloriation.  They  would  say  "so  and  so  is  an  an- 
archist," and  immediately  one  would  imagine  that  that 
person  wished  to  kill  someone,  for  it  was  deftly  suggested 
that  an  anarchist  is  a  person  who  is  opposed  to  law  and 
order.  Or  if  they  said,  "so  and  so  is  a  socialist,"  one 
was  led  to  expect  to  see  a  grim  person  rise  before  him 
who  was  prepared  to  burn,  slaughter  or  murder  his  fellow 
creatures.  Or  if  they  said,  "so  and  so  is  a  communist," 
one  refused  even  to  mention  his  name,  such  an  undesirable 
he  was  made  to  appear.  But  worse  yet  is  the  mistake, 
common  even  among  well-informed  people,  to  identify 
the  terms  anarchist,  socialist  and  communist,  as  if  the  one 
meant  exactly  the  same  as  the  other.  It  is  as  correct  to 
consider  a  socialist  and  an  anarchist  as  identical,  as  it 


39 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

would  be  to  hold  that  thick  and  thin,  right  and  wrong, 
straight  and  crooked,  are  absolutely  the  one  and  the  same 
thing. 

Production  and  Consumption. 

In  our  discussion  of  social  theories  it  is  essential  that 
we  understand  the  terms  we  use.  Therefore,  a  few  defi- 
nitions will  not  be  out  of  place.  Society,  in  its  attempt 
to  maintain  economic  life,  recognizes  two  main  depart- 
ments,— one  is  the  means  of  production,  the  other  is  the 
objects  of  consumption.  Men  produce  objects  to  be  con- 
sumed, and  this  is  the  basis  of  the  economic  life  of  the 
world.  That  is  to  say,  men  have  some  kind  of  machine 
or  tool  through  which  they  make  objects  which  others 
need.  For  instance;  the  earth  yields  the  grain  from 
which  we  make  bread.  The  bakery  in  which  a  man  makes 
the  bread,  the  oven  in  which  he  cooks  it,  the  trough  in 
which  he  kneads  it,  and  the  form  in  which  he  moulds  the 
shape, — these  are  called  the  means  of  production.  The 
bread  is  called  the  object  of  consumption.  Remember 
carefully  these  fundamental  terms,  the  means  of  produc- 
tion and  the  objects  of  consumption. 

Tools  and  Products. 

In  a  nation  the  means  of  production  include  land, 
mines,  railroads,  telephones,  telegraph  systems,  water- 
ways, factories,  machinery,  stores,  shops,  tools,  businesses- 
and  every  agency  by  means  of  which  we  produce  any- 
thing. The  objects  of  consumption  include  food,  drink, 
clothing,  houses,  furniture,  books,  pictures  and  other  such 


40 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

things.  The  world's  commerce  is  conducted  with  a  view 
of  converting  the  raw  material  of  the  earth  by  the  means 
of  production  into  objects  of  consumption,  and  money  is 
the  medium  through  which  these  are  exchanged.  The 
ownership  of  the  means  of  production  and  the  objects  of 
consumption  has  long  been  disputed.  Several  classes  of 
economic  theories  and  systems  have  arisen  which  every 
intelligent  man  and  woman  in  the  twentieth  century 
should  understand.  Until  we  have  a  fair  understanding 
of  them,  we  shall  play  no  intelligent  part  in  the  changing 
conditions  which  confront  us. 

Communism  and  Socialism. 

In  the  first  place,  the  communists  arose.  They  held 
that  the  means  of  production  and  the  objects  of  consump- 
tion belong  to  everyone  in  common.  Is  that  clear?  The 
communist  held  that  the  means  of  production,  the  trans- 
portation systems,  waterways,  the  machineries,  the  busi- 
ness, the  stores,  everything  by  means  of  which  we  pro- 
duce, and  also  everything  which  we  produce,  belong  to 
everybody  in  common.  With  them  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  private  ownership  of  anything.  Everything  for 
which  men  toil,  economically  speaking, — money,  property, 
possessions  of  all  kinds,  had  no  private  existence  in  a 
communistic  state.  This  was  found  to  be  impracticable; 
therefore,  communism  underwent  a  change  and  gave  rise 
to  what  we  now  call  socialism  which,  in  its  last  phase, 
means  that  the  means  of  production  belong  to  the  State 
and  should  be  held  by  the  State  for  the  benefit  of  all  the 
people. 

41 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

As  an  illustration  of  the  meaning  of  Socialism  the 
Post  Office  department  is  usually  cited.  This  is  a  public 
utility  conducted  by  the  Government  for  the  whole  na- 
tion. It  operates  the  nation's  business  for  the  benefit  of 
all.  It  costs  one  a  penny  to  mail  .a  card  from  his  house 
to  his  neighbor  on  the  same  street,  a  distance  of  but  a 
few  yards,  and  it  costs  no  more  to  send  a  similar  card  to 
California,  a  distance  of  thousands  of  miles;  so  that  all 
the  people  contribute,  not  equally  but  on  equal  terms,  to 
maintain  one  department  of  the  Government  conducted 
for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people.  Socialism,  then,  demands 
that  the  means  of  production,  or  the  tools  of  production, 
shall  be  owned  by  the  nation  for  the  benefit  of  all  the 
members  of  the  nation.  In  its  present  phase  it  has  noth- 
ing to  say  about  the  objects  of  consumption. 

Anarchism. 

Anarchism  makes  a  plea  like  unto  that  of  commun- 
ism, but  with  one  great  difference.  In  anarchistic  society 
the  tools  of  production  and  the  objects  of  consumption  are 
to  be  held  by  everybody  in  common;  but  in  that  society 
there  is  to  be  no  government,  or  constituted  authority.* 
Thus  we  have  the  three  phases  of  collectivism :  Commun- 
ism, under  which  all  tools  of  production  and  objects  of 
consumption  are  owned  by  everybody  in  common;  An- 
archism, under  which  all  tools  of  productions  and  ob- 
jects of  consumption  are  owned  by  everybody,  plus  a  so-  - 


"This    is,     strictly    speaking,     Anarchist-Communism.      Other 
of  Anarchism  will  be  considered  in  a  subsequent  address. 


42 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

ciety  in  which  there  is  no  governmental  or  constituted 
authority;  Socialism,  a  system  under  which  the  tools  of 
production  shall  be  owned  by  all  the  people  through  the 
State,  which  shall  employ  these  tools  for  the  benefit  of  all 
the  people  of  the  State. 

Single  Tax. 

As  opposed  to  all  forms  of  collectivism,  there  stands 
in  bold  relief  the  system  proposed  by  that  remarkable 
economist,  Henry  George.  He  held  that  the  sole  source 
of  wealth  is  the  earth ;  that  the  earth  belongs  to  mankind 
and  not  to  men ;  that  the  products  of  the  earth  should  be 
exchanged  freely  and  unrestrainedly;  that  there  should 
be  no  tax  upon  production ;  that  everything  we  have  and 
use,  we  owe,  in  the  last  analysis,  to  the  earth;  and  the 
earth,  as  Scripture  says,  has  been  given  unto  all  men. 
"The  heaven  of  heavens  are  the  Lord's,  but  the  earth  He 
hath  given  unto  the  children  of  men."  There  should  be 
absolutely  no  restriction  in  trade,  holds  Henry  George. 

Trade  must  be  absolutely  free,  untramelled  and  unre- 
stricted, so  that  all  products  can  be  freely  exchanged 
between  men  and  nations,  while  all  revenues  needed  by 
municipal,  county,  State  and  national  governments  should 
be  raised  by  one  single  tax  placed  on  the  value  of  land. 
Thus  these  economic  or  social  theories  represent,  on  the 
one  hand,  collectivism,  and  on  the  other  hand,  individual- 
ism; on  the  one  hand,  some  form  of  communism,  on  the 
other  hand  some  form  of  individualism. 


43 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

Communistic  Efforts. 

Now,  communism  has  been  tried  almost  everywhere, 
and  has  failed  almost  always  wherever  tried.  For  cen- 
turies the  Red  Indians  were  communists,  all  property 
rights  being  vested  in  the  tribe;  we  know  what  kind  of 
a  civilization  was  produced  under  the  circumstances.  The 
Russian  "Mir"  and  the  Javan  "Dessa"  are  of  like  na- 
ture. Among  the  Jews,  two  thousand  years  ago,  com- 
munism appeared  among  the  sect  known  as  the  Essenes, 
who  held  that  marriage  was  contrary  to  human  welfare, 
and  who  believed  that  all  property  should  be  held  in 
common.  The  Essenes,  it  is  said,  never  had  more  than 
five  thousand  followers,  but  they  handed  over  their  com- 
munistic ideas  to  the  early  Christians  who,  undoubtedly, 
were  voluntary  communists. 

In  the  Middle  Ages. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  church  in  Europe  in 
the  fourth  century,  this  social  theory  soon  failed.  With 
lingering  hopes  of  final  success  many  turned  to  asceticism 
and  to  the  monastic  orders  which  soon  proved  unfit  to  sur- 
vive. "Ever  since  there  have  been  various  communistic 
orders  and  sects  appearing  in  the  Christian  church, — the 
Humiliates;  the  Beghards  and  Beguines;  the  various 
mendicant  orders  of  the  Middle  Ages ;  the  Brethren  of  the 
Free  Spirit,  in  the  thirteenth  century;  the  Adamites  dur-- 
ing  the  Hussite  wars."  All  succeeded  for  a  time,  but  soon 
went  the  way  of  all  flesh. 


44 


The  Failure  of  Communism 
In  Germany,  France  and  England. 

Throughout  Germany,  after  the  Protestant  Reform- 
ation in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  tendency  toward  com- 
munism re-appeared.  Many  economists  hold  that  the 
Peasant  War  owed  its  origin  to  this  sentiment,  but  com- 
munism was  clearly  manifest  in  Storch's  organization  of 
the  Heavenly  Prophets,  "in  the  Anabaptists  in  Muenster, 
the  Libertines  of  Geneva,  the  Familists  of  Plolland  and 
England,  ,and  the  Buchanites  of  Scotland."  In  France, 
Morelly,  Mably  and  Babeuf  advocated  communism,  while 
England's  most  illustrious  advocate  of  this  theory  was 
Robert  Owen.  Thus  far  practically  no  success  has  at- 
tended the  efforts  of  the  followers  of  these  leaders. 

In  Our  Own  Country. 

In  the  United  States  communistic  societies  have  been 
fairly  common,  but  they  have  accomplished  nothing  that 
would  lead  most  free  men  and  women  to  yearn  after  them. 
William  A.  Hinds 's  work,  "American  Communities,"  re- 
fers to  142  such  societies,  very  few  of  which  were  over 
successful  while  fewer  still  have  had  enough  vitality  to  en- 
dure for  any  length  of  time.  The  Ephrata  Community, 
the  Shaker  Communities,  the  Harmony  Community,  the 
Amana  Community,  the  Oneida  Community,  the  Koreshan 
Community  and  the  Straight-Edgers,  are  among  the  long- 
est lived  and  most  successful,  but  their  experiences  have 
not  been  such  that  we  may  expect  to  find  the  mass  of  man- 
kind eager  to  emulate  them. 


45 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

Reasons  for  Failure. 

Communism  failed,  and  deserved  to  fail  because  its 
scheme  is  opposed  to  the  best  interests  of  humanity.  A 
community  in  which  one  man  is  the  supreme  chief,  in 
which  all  associates  are  subordinate,  and  where  all  submit 
to  a  rule  such  as  "from  each  according  to  his  ability  and 
to  each  according  to  his  needs,"  while  freedom  of  action 
is  necessarily  denied  to  the  members  of  the  community, 
cannot  long  endure.  Communism  is,  in  its  final  analysis, 
the  social  order  of  the  animals;  among  men  the  tenden- 
cies of  civilization  develop  a  division  of  labor  and  as  sub- 
division follows  subdivision,  the  drift  is  away  from  com- 
munism. 

Moreover,  communism  is  opposed  to  nature's  law, 
and  before  the  natural  law  all  must  bow  or  be  crushed. 
Argue  as  we  will  about  nature's  laws,  speak  as  we  may 
of  their  pitilessness  and  remorselessness,  we  cannot 
change  the  facts.  Like  a  Juggernaut  she  will  ruthlessly 
ride  over  all  who  cross  her  path.  Like  some  terrible 
sphinx  she  says:  "If  you  walk  with  me  as  I  wish,  I  shall 
be  your  most  loving  friend.  If  you  thwart  me,  I  shall  des- 
troy you.  Do  my  bidding  or  die!"  Terrible  as  seems 
this  pronunciamento,  it  is  the  essence  of  loving  kindness. 
For  nature's  laws  are  the  physical  expression  of  the  will 
of  God.  They  must  be  learned,  understood  and  obeyed 
if  we  wish  to  live  and  prosper.  There  is  no  alternative. 

Nature's  Law. 

After  all,  what  is  the  value  of  all  the  mushy  senti- 
mentality to  which  we  are  treated  by  those  who  would 

46 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

have  us  believe  that  man  can  ignore  the  natural  law? 
Is  it  not  society's  purpose  that  man  should  be  strong, 
self-reliant  and  self-helping  1}  I  thank  no  man  who  would 
give  me  morphine  when  I  am  healthy.  I  am  grateful  to 
no  surgeon  who  would  prescribe  crutches  for  me  if  I 
am  strong  enough  to  walk.  If  sick,  morphine  and 
crutches  may  be  helpful;  but  he  is  my  enemy  who  robs 
me  when  in  health  of  my  free-will.  It  is  evidently  na- 
ture's purpose  that  we  should  not  weaken  ourselves,  but 
that,  by  overcoming,  become  strong  enough  to  endure. 
Her  law  which  never  changes,  for  it  is  unchangeable, 
runs,  "Use  or  lose !"  If  change  there  is  to  be,  it  must  be 
in  us ;  we  cannot  change  nature. 

Competition  a  Natural  Law. 

Clear  as  daylight  is  the  natural  law  that  the  best  that 
ever  is  or  will  be  must  be  produced  by  competition.  The 
principle  of  competition  is  universal.  It  cannot,  it  must 
not,  be  abolished.  If  you  get  the  finest  soil,  and  sow  in 
it  the  finest  grass  seed,  and  provide  the  necessary  light, 
heat  and  moisture,  the  grass  will  soon  grow;  but,  no 
sooner  will  the  green  blades  appear  than  one  will  com- 
pete with  the  other  for  the  sunshine  and  the  air.  Said 
my  gardner  to  me  the  other  day,  "I  shall  put  no  ferti- 
lizer on  the  new  lawn  this  winter. "  "  But, ' '  said  I,  ' '  would 
not  a  fertilizer  enrich  the  lawn?"  "The  lawn  may  be  en- 
riched," he  answered,  "but  if  you  use  a  fertilizer  this 
season  on  grass  which  is  but  a  few  months  old,  the  grass 
will  refuse  to  send  its  loots  downward,  depending  on  the 
fertilizer  for  nourishment.  That  may  work  well  for  a 

47 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

short  time,  but  next  summer  during  intense  heat  the  grass 
will  wither.  If  you  desire  a  permanently  good  lawn  you 
must  force  the  grass  to  strike  its  root  deep  in  the 
ground." 

Competition  Inextinguishable. 

This  may  seem  as  cold  as  charity,  as  frigid  as  the 
North  Polo ;  but  there  stands  the  law,  involving  the  prin- 
ciple of  competition,  and  under  the  law  only  the  fittest  to 
survive  will  survive.  Let  me  set  before  you  two  ideas 
this  morning !  "Why  do  you  accept  one  and  reject  the 
other?  Because  the  two  ideas  are  no  sooner  compre- 
hended than  they  compete  for  acceptance.  You  can  no 
more  abolish  competition  and  succeed,  than  you  can 
abolish  the  atmosphere  and  live.  There  may  be  trade 
relations  in  which  competition  is  temporarily  thwarted 
and  throttled,  but  sooner  or  later  men  will  rise  in  their 
might  and  overthrow  them.  Communism  failed  because 
it  was  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  nature,  and  every 
system  which  refuses  to  recognize  the  supremacy  of  na- 
tural law  is  doomed  to  fail  before  it  begins. 

Hereditary  Gifts. 

Experience  also  shows  that  when  private  property 
is  abolished  an  assault  is  made  upon  the  integrity  of 
the  family,  which  points  to  the  ultimate  extinction  of 
the  family  as  an  institution.  Wherever  a  common  re- 
sponsibility has  existed  it  has  been  found  that  many  are 
anxious  to  shift  their  share  of  duty.  Some  always  de- 


48 


The  Failure  of  Communism 

pend  on  others  to  relieve  them  from  irksome  and  onerous 
tasks.  I  have  no  doubt  but  such  a  frame  of  mind  has  been 
found  in  the  masses  of  mankind  for  millions  of  years.  The 
man  who  was  ever  ready  to  do  his  duty  not  only  blessed 
himself,  but  he  proved  a  blessing  to  his  offspring  by  con- 
ferring on  them  body  cells  in  which  lay  the  potential 
force  of  willing  labor.  The  man  who  labored  favored  his 
child  by  endowing  it  with  like  ability,  and  thus  conferred 
upon  it  a  power  by  means  of  which  it  exerted  the  com- 
petitive force  which  brought  it  to  the  front.  Ancient  so- 
ciety was  not  necessarily  founded  by  freebooters  and 
marauders.  Men  of  effort  rose  above  men  of  ease  by  the 
force  of  hereditary  gifts.  Hate  it  if  you  like,  but  the  law 
will  continue  to  operate  this  way,  for  all  time  and  among 
all  people. 

The  Ultimate  Test. 

Communism  failed  as  will  every  system  which  robs 
man  of  initiative,  which  renders  voluntary  effort  unneces- 
sary and  which  removes  from  human  life  the  high  satis- 
faction which  results  from  personal  effort  voluntarily  ex- 
ercised. This  is  the  ultimate  test  which  must  be  applied 
to  all  social  theories,  and  as  we  continue  our  discussion 
we  shall  find  that,  in  proportion  as  such  theories  harmon- 
ize with  natural  law,  they  succeed  and  deserve  success; 
in  proportion  as  they  oppose  natural  law  they  cannot  but 
become  a  dismal  and  horrible  failure. 


49 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


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RELIGION  AND  SOCIAL  THEORIES. 


III.— The  Purpose  of  Socialism.' 


AN   ADDRESS   IN  THE   RODEF  SHALOM  TEMPLE 
PITTSBURGH,  SUNDAY,  FEBRUARY  2,   1913. 


Scripture  Reading:  Proverbs  xii. 


The  thoughts  of  the  righteous  are  for  justice.     (Proverbs  xii.,  5.) 


Permit  me,  before  I  enter  upon  a  brief  and  necessarily 
incomplete  discussion  of  the  purpose  of  Socialism,  a  pure- 
ly personal  statement. 

Socialistic  Charges  Against  Us. 

In  this  community,  the  challenge  has  been  made  that 
the  minister  of  this  congregation  dare  not  discuss  in  an 
unprejudiced  manner,  before  the  members  of  the  Rodef 
Shalom  Temple,  the  issues  raised  by  Socialism.  It  has 


*By  the  Rev.  J.  Leonard  Levy,  Rabbi  of  the  Congregation. 
Stenographically  reported  by  Caroline  Loewenthal. 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

been  said  by  those  who  challenge  him  that  he  is  under  too 
many  obligations  to  certain  rich  men,  whose  support 
makes  the  congregation  possible,  to  bring  to  the  attention 
of  his  people  the  purposes  of  Socialism.  It  has  been  also 
said  that  the  members  of  his  congregation  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  demands  of  the  Socialist  party,  and  are  not 
interested  in  the  great  economic  themes  which  are  at  the 
present  moment  convulsing  the  world  and  producing  great 
social  unrest. 

Untrue  in  Every  Particular. 

For  yon,  my  congregants,  let  me,  your  minister,  say 
that  1  believe  that  it  would  be  exceedingly  difficult  to  find 
a  body  of  people  numbering  about  twenty-five  hundred 
souls, — men,  women  and  children, — who  have  granted 
greater  liberty,  or  permitted  wider  opportunities,  to  a 
minister  than  you  have.  I  believe  that  it  would  be  utterly 
impossible  for  any  man  ministering  to  the  needs  of  a  con- 
gregation  to  have  been  given  greater  freedom  of  utterance 
than  you  have  permitted  your  Rabbi.  And,  on  this  oc- 
easion,  I  desire  to  express  my  gratitude  to  the  men  and 
the  women  of  this  congregation  for  their  uniform  support 
and  their  cordial  help  to  the  minister  of  this  congregation, 
although  he  has,  on  many  occasions,  given  expression  to 
opinions  which,  he  feels  sure,  are  not  generally  acceptable 
to  many  men  and  women  in  the  congregation. 

Your  Minister  Has  a  Free  Pulpit. 

For  the  minister  of  this  congregation,  let  it  be  said 
that  he  feels,  except  in  the  way  of  friendship,  under  no 

52 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

obligatiQn  to  any  man,  woman  or  child  in  the  congrega- 
tion ;  and  that,  as  far  as  he  is  concerned,  he  knows  only 
one  master,  his  God.  His  conception  of  truth  is  that 
which  is  expressed  by  the  living  body  of  the  House  of 
Israel,  gained  through  its  long  experience  of  nearly  four 
thousand  years.  He  is  a  slave  to  that  conception  of  truth, 
but  to  no  man,  or  body  of  men,  be  they  capitalists,  or  be 
they  laborers. 

In  answer  to  specific  charges  brought  against  this 
congregation,  you,  who  know  how  this  congregation  is  or- 
ganized, can  understand  that  a  do/en  or  more  of  the 
wealthiest  men  in  this  congregation  could  leave  us  to- 
morrow, yet  the  income  of  the  congregation  would  not  be 
reduced  by  .$2,500  a  year.  For  the  richest  man  in  this 
congregation  pays  into  its  funds  only  $174  a  year,  and  we 
have  been  exceedingly  jealous  in  this  congregation  to 
maintain,  as  far  as  we  possibly  may,  the  democratic  or- 
ganization of  the  Synagogue. 

Critics  Not  Necessarily  Enemies. 

I  desire  most  earnestly  to  remind  those  who  agree,  or 
disagree,  with  my  point  of  view  on  the  matter  of  Socialism 
that  he  is  not  the  enemy  of  the  proletariat,  of  the  dis- 
possessed classes,  or  of  the  workingmen,  who  does  not  al- 
ways agree  with  them;  that  it  is  not  necessary  for  a  man 
unquestioningly  to  accept  every  utterance  of  the  majority 
to  proclaim  himself  a  friend  of  humanity.  The  honest 
critic  of  my  co-religionists  will  always  be  thanked  by  Jews 
who  have  self-respect ;  and  the  honest  critic  of  any  econo- 
mic or  religious  movement  is  the  best  friend  that  move- 
ment can  have. 

53 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

History  to  be  Spiritually  Interpreted. 

I  further  desire  to  say,  by  way  of  introduction,  that  I 
am  a  believer  in  the  spiritual  interpretation  of  history. 
I  do  not  believe  that  the  righteous  man  whose  thoughts 
are  for  justice,  believes  that  justice  is  only  just  when  it 
is  profitable.  I  believe  that  history,  properly  interpreted, 
is  the  record,  among  other  things,  of  the  conquest  made 
by  the  soul  and  mind  of  man  over  the  blind  and  insensate 
forces  of  nature,  of  the  victory  of  ideas  and  ideals  over 
things.  I  also  believe  that  the  best  friends  of  man  were 
those  who  loved  justice  when  it  was  unprofitable  to  be 
just,  that  the  great  martyrs  of  the  human  race,  its  saints, 
its  seers,  its  prophets,  were  all  of  them,  either  killed, 
hated,  abused  or  denied,  because  they  revealed  to  mankind 
those  great  principles  which  the  many  hated,  yet  which 
they  must  accept ;  that  for  instance,  Moses  was  a  moralist 
long  before  he  was  an  economist,  and  that  the  teachings 
of  our  great  prophets,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel  and  the 
others,  which  are  about  to  affect  the  world,  as  the  expres- 
sions of  no  men  have  ever  moved  the  human  conscience 
and  reason,  are  the  ideals  of  men  who  believed  in  righte- 
ousness and  equity  and  justice  long  before  it  was  to  their 
advantage  to  believe  as  they  did. 

Socialists  Among  the  Jews. 

Furthermore,  the  minister,  himself,  is  a  man  who 
must  toil  for  a  salary,  which  is  only  another  name  for  a 
wage;  and  1  would  not  willingly  advocate  any  system 
which  would  put  the  bonds  of  slavery  about  myself  or 

54 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

my  family.  Moreover,  let  it  be  said,  in  answer  to  those 
who  sometimes  feel  that  Jews  are  blameworthy  because 
many  are  vitally  interested  i»n  Socialism  and  are  advocat- 
ing it  earnestly  and  eagerly,  that,  if  Socialism  means  the 
overthrow  of  the  present  economic  system,  or  the  sub- 
version of  modern  society  and  the  upbuilding  of  a  better 
system  and  a  nobler  society,  one  can  scarcely  blame  Marx 
and  Lassalle,  who  were  of  Jewish  birth,  or  the  Jew  who  is 
identified  with  their  teachings.  Even  if  they  were  not 
moved  by  what  they  felt  were  considerations  of  economic 
principles,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  society  has  never 
been  just  to  the  Jewish  people,  and  even  in  the  most  ad- 
vanced and  civilized  lands  lacks  the  essential  elements 
of  fairness  toward  that  people.  Society  has  not  been  so 
tender  of  Right  and  Liberty  that  all  Jews  should  be  will- 
ing to  admit  that  the  present  system  is  the  best  possible; 
and  while  I  am  not  a  Socialist,  and  while  I  shall  resist 
Socialism  as  long  as  I  am  of  my  present  mind,  and  while  I 
hope  to  prove  that  Socialism  is  not  the  way  out  of  our 
present  difficulties,  yet  I  can  thoroughly  understand  why 
many,  who  feel  the  grinding  force  of  modern  iniquity  and 
inequity,  should  turn  to  any  power  which  seems  to  prom- 
ise to  bring  them  out  of  their  present  Egypt. 

Justice  and  Liberty. 

Society's  great  need  is  justice.  The  thoughts  of 
righteous  men  are  always  for  justice ;  but  all  men  are  not 
yet  righteous.  I  am  weary  of  hearing  or  reading  the 
statements  of  frenzied  emotionalists,  in  and  out  of  pulpits, 
who  apostrophize  love  as  the  expression  of  their  religion. 


DO 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

I  certainly  do  not  object  to  the  divine  sentiment  of  love; 
but  experience  shows  that,  long  before  we  can  expect  men 
to  love  one  another,  long  before  we  may  hope  to  find  the 
spirit  of  human  love  hover  over  mankind,  (if  we  are  to 
judge  by  the  experiences  of  the  past  many  centuries), 
we  must  insist  upon  the  social  virtue  of  justice.  It  is  not 
in  tin-  power  of  men  to  like  everyone;  but  we  must  be  fair 
;md  just  in  our  dealings  with  all  people.  In  a  word,  I 
auree  that  ultimately  love  may  become  a  universal  ex- 
perience, but  only  the  love  which  grows  from  the  justice 
which  should  be  the  fundamental  basis  of  social  life. 

Liberty  and  Equality. 

Now.  justice  postulates  liberty,  for  surely  there  can 
he  no  justice  without  liberty!  By  many  liberty  is  taken 
1o  mean  equality:  but  how  many  really  believe  in  what  so 
many  call  equality?  I,  for  one,  do  not  believe  literally  in 
llie  statement  made  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
that  "all  men  are  created  equal."  I  agree  that  they 
are  horn  to  equal  opportunity,  that  they  are  born  to  equal 
rights  before  God  and  the  law;  but  I  do  not  believe  that 
all  men  are  in  every  way  equal,  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
we  can  ever  make  all  men  equal,  until  God  institutes  some 
new  experiment  hitherto  untried.  If  God  were  to  take  all 
1  he  brains  of  all  the  people  of  the  earth  and  mix  them  until 
Ihey  were  of  the  same  consistency,  and  if  He  were  then 
to  give  each  child  who  comes  into  the  world  an  equal 
amount  of  brain  power,  we  might  have  equality  of  brkin 
1  tower.  The  same  is  true  of  nerve  force  and  of  character; 
but  until  some  such  arrangement  has  been  devised,  I  do 
not  think  we  can  have  equality. 

56 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

We  can  have  liberty,  and  liberty  means  equality  of 
opportunity,  not  equality  of  possessions,  ability  or  char- 
acter. The  law  of  equal  liberty  for  each,  bounded  only 
by  the  like  liberties  of  all.  (and  this  is  the  best  concep- 
tion of  liberty  of  which  I  know),  conveys  the  corollary 
that  "each  is  free,"  as  Herbert  Spencer  says,  "to  do  what- 
ever his  desires  dictate,  within  the  prescribed  limits, — 
that  each  is  free,  therefore,  to  claim  for  himself  all  those 
gratifications,  and  sources  of  gratification,  which  he  can 
procure  without  trespassing  on  the  spheres  of  action  of 
his  neighbors."  (Social  Statistics,  p.  66).  Justice  is  the 
social  virtue  most  needed  today;  and,  with  the  constant 
evolution  of  human  society,  is  most  likely  to  be  introduced 
sooner  than  at  any  previous  period  of  the  world's  history. 

The  Aim  of  Socialism. 

Socialism  is  an  attempt  to  introduce  justice  into  social 
relations.  When  Proudhon,  who  was  a  socialist-anarchist, 
was  arrested  in  Paris  some  years  ago  and  was  brought  be- 
fore a  magistrate  for  delivering  an  inflammatory  speech, 
he  told  the  magistrate  that  he  was  a  Socialist.  "What," 
asked  the  magistrate,  "do  you  mean  by  a  Socialist!" 
Proudhon  replied,  "Any  man  who  is  interested  in  the  wel- 
fare of  human  society  as  a  whole."  "If  that  is  Social- 
ism," said  the  magistrate,  "then  I  am  a  Socialist;  why, 
we  are  all  Socialists."  And  Proudhon  answered,  "Yes, 
that  is  what  I  believe."  If  Socialism  means  the  aspira- 
tion after  a  constantly  improving  condition  in  social  re- 
lations, then  are  all  good  men  and  women  Socialists ;  for 
no  person  who  thinks  can  believe  that  society  has  yet  at- 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

tained  perfection,  that  the  Promised  Land  is  already 
reached,  that  ideal  conditions  prevail  here  and  now.  So- 
cialism means  this,  but  it  means  a  great  deal  more.  It 
means  a  "historic,  economic  and  fundamentally  revolu- 
tionary change"  in  the  conception  of  society.  It  means 
an  evolution,  a  tendency,  a  principle,  "a  social  movement 
developed  through  class  consciousness." 

What  Socialism  is  Not. 

By  Socialism  is  not  meant  what  so  many  unthinking 
people  take  it  to  mean, — Anarchism.  It  does  not  mean 
the  overthrow  of  government,  as  so  many  people  believe. 
It  means  exactly  the  opposite.  It  means  the  apotheosis 
of  government ;  it  means  that  the  government  is  to  be  su- 
preme controller  of  all  the  individuals  who  comprise  the 
nation.  By  modern  Socialism  is  not  meant  even  the  prin- 
ciples enunciated  in  the  Communist  Manifesto  issued  by 
Marx  and  En  gels  in  1848,  for  we  must  remember  that  sev- 
eral decades  have  passed  since  Karl  Marx  first  propounded 
his  economic  theories.  Nor  by  modern  Socialism  are  we 
to  understand  the  theory  which  was  espoused  by  Ferdi- 
nand Lassalle,who  urged  that  social  improvement  could 
be  achieved  only  through  the  efforts  of  the  Working 
Men's  Association,  founded  in  1864.  Nearly  a  half  cen- 
tury has  elapsed  since  Lassalle's  time,  and  there  has  been 
a  profound  change  in  socialistic  ideas  between  that  time 
and  this. 

By  Socialism  is  not  meant  the  principles  of  the  So- 
cialistic Party  of  England  or  America,  nor  of  the  Social 

58 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

Democratic  Federation  of  Great  Britain.  By  it  is  not 
meant  the  Fabian  Society,  nor  the  Independent  Labor 
Party,  nor  the  Labor  Party,  nor  the  Clarion  Organizations, 
nor  the  Independent  Workingmen  of  the  World,  nor  Syn- 
dicalism. By  Socialism  is  meant,  in  our  day,  the  theory 
propounded  by  the  International  Socialist  Party,  a  party 
which,  apparently,  renounces  the  hope  of  gaining  its  ends 
through  any  one  nation  which  may  recognize  the  party, 
for  it  now  appears  that  no  one  country  can  alone  success- 
fully adopt  Socialism,  which  is  international  rather  than 
national  in  aim.  Socialism  is,  therefore,  the  aspiration 
of  an  international  party  which  no  longer  seeks  one  peo- 
ple for  its  sphere  of  activity,  but  undertakes  to  convert 
the  whole  human  family,  internationally,  to  the  socialist 
ideal. 

The  Growth  of  Socialism. 

Has  Socialism  manifested  signs  of  life?  Has  it  ap- 
pealed to  the  imagination  of  men?  Has  it  grown?  In 
1883,  when  Karl  Marx  died,  there  were  but  a  handful  of 
Socialists  in  the  world.  Today  they  represent  millions 
upon  millions  of  men.  In  Germany  there  are  4,252,000 
Socialist  voters.  They  occupy  110  seats  in  the  Reichstag, 
and  hold  2,000  official  positions  under  the  government. 
In  France  there  are  76  Social  Deputies  in  the  Chamber, 
and  2,769  government  positions  are  held  by  their  com- 
rades. In  the  British  House  of  Parliament  there  are  42 
members  who  are  avowed  Socialists.  In  America,  we  had 
one  Socialist  in  Congress,  but  he  was  recently  defeated 
when  he  sought  re-election.  Germany  publishes  159 
Socialist  papers;  Italy,  92;  France,  70;  Belgium,  56;  Eng- 
land, 12. 

59 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

In  the  United  States  the  Socialist  vote  was  divided 
at  the  recent  election.  It  was  not  cast  for  the  Socialist 
candidates  alone ;  for,  on  account  of  the  triangular  con- 
test between  three  nominees  for  the  presidency,  many  So- 
cialists voted  for  or  against  Taft,  Roosevelt,  or  Wilson. 
In  spite  of  that  contest,  the  Socialist  vote  reached  nearly 
a  million.  It  practically  amounted  to  double  the  number 
cast  for  its  candidates  in  1908.  Last  November  the  So- 
cialists gained  12,000  votes  in  New  York  City,  in  Buffalo, 
2.400;  in  Rochester,  200,  while  in  many  small  cities  the 
vote  \vas  twice  the  number  of  1908.  In  California  this 
party  raised  the  vote  of  28,659  to  66,350.  Socialists  pub- 
lish 13  daily  papers  in  the  United  States  and  four  more 
are  being  planned  for  immediate  publication.  They  pub- 
lish 350  weekly  papers  in  this  country,  25  monthly  maga- 
zines, while  the  number  of  local  papers  can  scarcely  be 
counted.  These  figures  are  not  taken  from  Socialist 
sources.  I  deliberately  selected  them  from  an  anti-so- 
cialist authority,  and  I  have  culled  them  from  a  work 
called  "Socialism  from  a  Christian  Standpoint,"  written 
by  the  venerable  Father  Vaughan,  a  celebrated  English 
Jesuit  priest. 

The  Significance  of  this  Growth. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  growth  and  change?  We 
might  behold  the  germination  of  a  new  social  order  under 
our  very  eyes,  if  we  only  have  enough  vision  to  see  it.  At 
such  a  time  unrest  is  natural.  When  we  find  social  dis- 
content, it  does  not  follow  that  the  people  are  worse  off; 
it  sometimes  signifies  the  very  contrary.  If  you  study 

60 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

the  countries  in  which  the  people  are  on  the  verge  of 
starvation,  you  will  find  that  the  laboring  people  are  silent 
and  that  they  have  no  means  of  expressing  their  dissatis- 
faction. The  peon  of  Mexie'o  passes  no  resolutions  look- 
ing to  his  improvement.  But  in  America,  in  England, 
where  the  laboring  people  have  had  the  widest  opportun- 
ity; where,  for  two  generations,  they  have  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  some  education;  where  they  now  receive  the 
highest  wage  ever  paid  to  workingmen ;  where  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  live,  while  leaving  much  to  be 
desired,  are  better  than  they  have  ever  been ;  where  labor 
organizations  are  stronger  than  they  ever  were;  there  is 
more  discontent  than,  probably,  at  any  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world. 

Where  death  prevails  silence  reigns  supreme.  Where 
there  is  life,  we  always  find  some  expression  of  content  or 
discontent,  according  to  the  degree  of  satisfaction  pre- 
vailing among  the  various  classes.  It  is  all  very  good, 
for  the  few  who  have  succeeded  in  life  to  be  satisfied  with 
their  lot.  It  is  all  very  good  for  men,  upon  whom  there 
is  no  economic  pressure,  to  say  that  "free  contract  and 
open  competition"  represents  the  best  possible  condition 
for  economic  evolution.  It  is  all  very  good  for  men  who 
can  look  forward  to  old  age  without  the  slightest  dis- 
quietude, and  for  those  who  have  been  provided  for  by 
the  success  and  forethought  of  their  ancestors,  or  who 
are  likely  to  be  so  provided  for,  to  assert  that  we  enjoy 
an  economic  status  which  is  most  desirable  for  all  hu- 
manity. Satisfactory  as  such  a  status  may  be  for  some, 
it  is  harassing  and  oppressive  to  many.  They  who  suffer 

61 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

from  adverse  economic  conditions  and  who,  as  a  result  of 
deliberation  and  thought,  have  espoused  Socialism,  never 
blame  men,  who  are  the  creatures  of  their  heredity  and  en- 
vironment. They  blame  the  system,  while  recognizing 
that  it  is  the  product  of  an  evolutionary  process  which 
none  could  forestall. 

Changing  Systems. 

This  system  is  largely  the  result  of  changes  which 
have  taken  place  during  the  last  hundred  years.  Many 
of  us  have  surely  seen  unmistakable  evidences  of  the 
transformation.  Some  of  us  can  even  remember  the  time 
when  complex  machines  were  unknown,  and  when,  in  our 
native  city  or  village,  there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  rail- 
road, a  street  car,  a  machine  shop.  These  changes  which 
have  been  wrought  through  the  invention  of  steam  and 
electrical  appliances  mean  vast  modifications  in  the  social 
status. 

From  Slavery  to  Serfdom. 

As  we  review  the  rise  of  the  workingman,  he  appears 
in  early  history,  in  the  Bible  for  example,  as  a  slave.  The 
Pharaoh  appointed  taskmasters  to  keep  the  people  in 
slavery.  For  thousands  of  years  did  that  condition  pre- 
vail ;  the  average  workingman  was  forcibly  restrained  as 
a  slave.  His  condition  was  sadder  even  than  that  of  the 
colored  people  in  our  Southland;  for  the  negro  was,  at 
least,  provided  with  food,  clothing  and  shelter.  Originally 
the  workingman  had  to  furnish  his  tale  of  bricks,  and  had 
to  collect  for  himself  the  straw  with  which  the  bricks  were 


62 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

made.  His  master  cared  not  whether  he  lived  or  died. 
He  provided  him  with  neither  shelter  nor  food ;  these  the 
slave  was  forced  to  obtain  for  himself  as  best  he  could. 
If  angels  came  into  the  land  of  the  Pharaoh  and  over  night 
smote  the  first-born  of  the  slaves,  it  mattered  not  to  the 
heartless  master;  there  were  hosts  immediately  to  fill 
the  places  vacated  by  the  dead.  For  centuries  this  con- 
dition prevailed  until,  speaking  generally,  we  find  that, 
among  the  Teutonic  family  men  were  inspired,  I  believe, 
by  the  story  of  Israel  of  old,  broke  from  their  shackled 
hands  the  fetters  of  their  Pharoahs  and  struck  for  econo- 
mic liberty. 

Serfdom  to  Feudalism. 

The  slave  disappeared  and  was  succeeded  by  the  serf. 
Centuries  passed,  and  the  scene  changed :  the  serf  became 
the  companion  of  his  employer.  I  remember,  though  I 
am  far  from  being  an  old  man,  when,  in  England,  the  em- 
ployer and  the  employee  were  daily  in  close  personal  con- 
tact, when  the  apprentice  was  like  a  member  of  the  em- 
ployer's family,  when  a  relationship  of  personal  friend- 
ship existed  between  the  employer  and  the  employee. 
But,  with  the  introduction  of  the  Factory  System,  this 
happy  state  slowly  changed.  By  degrees,  an  impersonal 
relationship  developed  between  employer  and  employee. 
Gradually  the  employee  saw  less  and  less  of  his  employer, 
until  today  many  employers  live  in  one  country  while 
their  employees  toil  for  them  in  another  country.  Then 
as  business  developed  and  became  vast  in  magnitude  an- 
other economic  change  ensued :  few  men  cared  to  risk  their 
fortune  in  one  venture,  and  corporate  ownership  evolved 

63 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

We  can  now  see  the  slow  changes  which  produced  the 
slave,  the  serf,  the  workingman  with  his  friendly  em- 
ployer, the  workingman  with  his  impersonal  employer, — 
private  ownership  remaining  the  usual  condition  of  the 
employer. 

The  Rise  of  the  Trust. 

Within  the  past  generation  a  new  development  has 
taken  place,  organization  in  trade  becoming  less  and  less 
personal,  and  tending  to  become  more  and  ever  more  im- 
personal. The  private  business  has,  in  many  cases,  grown 
into  a  corporation,  while  corporations,  deciding  to  produce 
as  far  as  possible  the  maximum  of  gain  with  the  minimum 
of  expenditure,  or  as  it  is  often  stated,  to  operate  with  the 
maximum  of  efficiency  and  economy,  united  corporation 
with  corporation,  a  step  which  has  resulted  in  the  larger 
corporation  known  as  the  trust.  It  is  urged  by  Socialists 
that  it  requires  no  feat  of  the  imagination  to  conclude  that, 
just  as  the  private  business  grew  into  a  corporation,  just 
as  the  corporation  developed  into  the  many  corporations 
which  form  a  trust,  so  the  trust  must,  under  normal  condi- 
tions, unless  competition  is  maintained  and  is  unrestricted, 
evolve  monopolies.  Therefore,  urge  Socialists,  we  have 
our  choice  between  a  private  monopoly  and  a  public 
monopoly,  a  monopoly  conducted  for  private  gain  and  a 
monopoly  conducted  for  the  gain  of  all. 

Definition  of  Socialism. 

These  steps  are  said  to  be  necessary  phases  in  econo- 
mic evolution ;  certainly,  this  series  of  links  already  forged 

64 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

in  the  economic  chain  of  development  cannot  be  disputed. 
Therefore,  the  Socialists,  anticipating  the  next  step  which 
they  say  is  inevitable,  givje  the  following  as  the  interna- 
tional definition  of  Socialism:  "The  collective  owner- 
ship of  the  means  of  production  by  the  community  demo- 
cratically organized,  and  their  operation  co-operatively 
for  the  equitable  good  of  all."  This  is  the  only  definition 
with  which  we  have  a  right  to  deal.  The  various  phases 
of  Socialism,  the  various  demands  of  individual  authors 
and  parties  must  be  ignored;  for,  if  we  wish  to  be  fair  in 
our  contentions,  we  must  deal  with  Socialism  through  its 
real  representative  the  International  Socialist  Party.  This 
party  asserts  that  all  the  tools  of  production,  as  defined 
in  last  week's  address,  (See  page  40),  should  be  owned  by 
all  the  people,  i.  e.,  through  their  government;  that  that 
government  must  be  a  democratic  institution ;  and  that 
the  operation  of  that  democratic  institution  should  be  con- 
ducted co-operatively  for  the  good  of  all  its  members  with 
complete  regard  for  the  equities  of  the  case. 

Sympathy  with  Aims,  Not  with  Theory. 

Now  whether  we  agree  that  this  represents  the 
thoughts  of  the  righteous  who  are  always  for  justice; 
whether  we  believe  that  such  an  economic  transformation 
will  work  for  the  good  of  society,  or  not;  whether  we 
would  at  once  admit  that  it  is  the  highest  economic  ideal 
or  not ;  whether  we  believe  in  the  economic,  or  the  spirit- 
ual, interpretation  of  history ;  whether  we  would  be  will- 
ing to  follow  the  Socialists  wherever  they  lead  or  not; 
whether  we  would  agree  that  it  is  wise  to  toil  for  govern- 

65 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

ment  ownership,  the  tools  of  production  being  possessed 
by  all  through  a  democratically  administered  national  in- 
stitution, or  not;  whether  we  believe  that  collectivism  is 
the  wisest  economic  method  and  will  produce  the  best  re- 
sults, or  not;  it  is  impossible,  if  we  have  hearts,  not  at 
least  to  sympathize  wdth  many  of  the  demands  of  the  So- 
cialist Party,  whether  we  agree  with  their  economic 
theories  or  not. 

Poverty. 

Let  us  look  about  us!  Just  consider  what  society 
represents  today!  We  live  in  a  country  only  136  years 
old,  a  country  most  favored  by  nature  and  nature's  God. 
We  have  increased  in  wealth  tremendously.  But  has 
each  individual  increased  in  wealth  per  capitia,  it  is 
asked  ?  or  if  so  is  the  increase  so  great  as  to  warrant  free 
men  in  continuing  the  present  system  unchanged?  We 
see,  on  the  one  hand,  palaces  on  Fifth  avenue,  in  New 
York  City,  inhabited  by  men  of  vast  fortunes;  while, 
only  a  few  squares  from  those  palaces,  in  this  young  and 
happy  laud  only  136  years  old,  we  find  dens  of  squalor 
and  want.  Men  who  cannot  in  a  lifetime  legitimately 
use  for  themselves  one  year's  interest  on  their  invest- 
ments, are  here;  and  yet  yonder,  within  a  stone's  throw, 
we  may  see  children  starving,  men  and  women  selling 
themselves  for  bread,  fighting  for  mere  sustenance. 

The  Social  Evil. 

Although  the  nation  is  only  136  years  old,  we  are 
said  to  be  under  the  curse  of  poverty.  Here  within  the 


66 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

past  few  years,  this  young  nation  has  been  called  upon 
to  pass  laws  in  national  and  in  State  legislatures,  look- 
ing to  the  uprooting  of  what  has  become  known  as  the 
White  Slave  Traffic.  Here,  in  America,  for  example,  a 
so-called  Christian  country,  we  have  all  the  evils  of 
sexual  immorality  against  which  the  prophets  of  the  old- 
est nations  of  the  earth  inveighed.  Women  are  sold  into 
slavery  every  day  of  the  week.  We  have  a  whole  army  of 
young  women  in  New  York  City,  in  Philadelphia,  in 
Chicago,  in  Pittsburgh,  in  all  the  industrial  centers  of 
the  nation,  whose  bodies  are  polluted  chiefly  because 
"their  poverty,  and  not  their  will,  consents."  I  have 
heard  it  authoritatively  stated  that  in  the  city  of  Pitts- 
burgh, there  are  20,000  females  working  for  less  than  six 
dollars  a  week ;  and  this,  in  a  free  country  only  136  years 
old. 

Crime. 

We  have  in  our  city  an  institution  called  the  Western 
Penitentiary.  I  often  visit  it,  and  I  see  men,  created  in 
the  image  of  God,  who  have  become  brutalized  and  de- 
graded. Fourteen  hundred  residents  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania are  confined  in  this  penitentiary,  and  many  more 
are  placed  in  other  jails  and  prisons  in  this  community. 
Crime  of  every  character  is  committed  by  many  who 
hope  thus  to  improve  their  economic  condition.  An  in- 
ordinate yearning  for  money,  an  uncontrollable  desire 
for  position,  a  fierce  but  stupid  cupidity  leads  men  to  be- 
lieve that  happiness  and  riches  are  synonymous.  In  a 
word,  we  have  in  America,  poverty,  prostitution  and 


67 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

crime,  the  three  evils  against  which  society  has  inveighed 
ever  since  there  was  a  prophet  who  gave  expression  to 
justice.  From  the  day  on  which  the  righteous  man  first 
realized  the  need  of  social  justice  until  this  hour,  every 
good  man  has  endeavored,  to  the  limit  of  his  ability,  so 
to  frame  society  that  poverty,  prostitution  and  crime 
shall  disappear. 

Child  Labor. 

During  the  last  decade,  the  conscience  of  this  nation 
has  been  stirred  on  the  matter  of  child  labor.  In  my  own 
luunblt'  May,  I  have  urged  your  consideration  of  the 
ri.irhteous  demands  for  more  equitable  conditions  for  lit- 
tle children.  I  have  told  you,  again  and  again,  that  man 
is  tlu-  only  animal  whose  childhood  should  be  greatly 
prolonged:  that,  for  example  the  bird,  at  birth,  can  help 
itself:  that  the  babe  at  birth  is  helpless,  and  for  many 
months  after  birth  can  do  nothing  for  itself,  as  if  nature 
preached  to  us,  most  plainly  and  powerfully,  that  the 
period  of  childhood  should  be  prolonged  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. One  cannot  speak  with  Professor  Felix  Adler,  the 
national  President  of  the  Child  Labor  Organization,  or 
with  Owen  Lovejoy,  without  soon  realizing  that  America 
is  guilty  of  a  crime  worse  than  the  Minotaur  of  old.  He 
only  asked  a  few  maidens  each  year;  modern  economic 
life  is  sapping  the  very  life  of  the  nation  by  employing 
thousands  of  little  children,  who  ought  to  be  given  the 
opportunity  of  physical  and  moral  development  now 
denied  to  them. 

The  Loveless  Marriage. 
Moreover,  few  men  who  know  much  about  social  re- 

68 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

lations  fail  to  remark,  so  it  is  said,  the  increase  of  love- 
less marriages.  It  is  stated  that  more  women  are  sold 
into  marriage  than  are  ever  taken  into  marriage  in  love; 
that,  because  of  the  economic  dependence  of  woman, 
many  sell  themselves  in  order  to  be  maintained,  and  the 
sin  of  many  a  married  woman  is,  very  often,  as  the  sin 
of  the  prostitute, — she  accepts  a  man  who  will  keep  her, 
although,  in  her  heart  of  hearts,  she  hates  and  despises 
her  keeper.  But,  it  is  said,  the  economic  dependence  of 
woman  forces  her  to  accept  these  terms.  She  has  not 
been  educated  to  understand  that  she  is  the  equal  of  man, 
to  care  for  herself,  and  to  work  out  her  own  salvation; 
and  she  has  been  denied,  throughout  the  ages,  wisely  or 
unwisely,  the  opportunity  of  preparing  herself  against 
that  day  when  she  would  be  in  a  position  to  accept  the 
man  she  loved  and  no  other  man. 

Further  Description  Unnecessary. 

x 

These  are  some  of  the  conditions  against  which  So- 
cialists inveigh.  I  could  continue  by  the  hour  attempting 
to  make  the  picture  clearer  to  you ;  but  it  is  unnecessary. 
I  could  continue  at  great  length  to  draw  many  harrowing 
pictures  of  conditions  in  human  life  which  would  make 
your  hair  stand  on  your  head  "like  quills  upon  the  fretful 
porcupine;"  but  what  has  already  been  said  will  suffice. 
I  could  tell  you  of  some  things  which  I  have  seen,  and 
many  of  you  would  never  be  able  to  smile  again.  I  could 
tell  you  case  after  case  which  has  come  under  my  personal 
observation  which  is  the  direct  result  of  the  modern  so- 
cial system  and  which  would  appeal  to  you  with  all  their 

69 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

mute  sorrow  for  some  change  somewhere.  Is  there  not 
much  food  for  thought  in  the  words  of  the  Socialist  who 
said,  "A  man  cannot  be  said  to  be  economically  free  who, 
on  penalty  of  starvation  for  himself  and  his  family,  is 
compelled  to  work  at  some  manual  or  machine  task,  al- 
lowing of  little  creative  action,  or  intellectual  interest, 
and  often  more  strenuously  than  the  slaves  of  any  age, — 
and  all  for  a  pittance  barely  more  than  will  sustain  life 
under  modern  conditions?" 

Need  of  Improvement. 

Although  I  do  not  measure  success  as  do  Socialists, 
for  I  do  not  think  that  every  man  who  has  made  money 
has  made  a  success  of  life,  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
wealth  and  happiness  are  synonymous;  yet  when  it  is 
seon  how,  all  too  often,  the  shrewd,  the  cunning  and  the 
unscrupulous  make  fortunes;  when  we  note,  as  can  be 
observed,  how  very  often  virtue  fails  economically  while 
vice  succeeds;  we  cannot  help  believing  that  there  is 
something  wrong  with  the  system  which  tolerates  such 
conditions.  Furthermore,  when  we  consider  the  condi- 
tions prevailing  in  the  homes  of  the  proletariat,  of  the 
dispossessed  classes,  of  those  who  have  no  opportunity  of 
providing  against  the  so-called  rainy  day;  when  we 
realize,  for  example,  that  a  man  with  a  wife  and  several 
children,  earns,  during  his  life  of  forty  years  of  labor, 
little  more  than  enough  just  to  pay  for  the  barest  neces--. 
sities  of  life;  that,  if  an  accident  occurs  to  him,  the  gov- 
ernment has  not  yet  demanded  that  some  provision  be 
made  for  him;  that,  if  he  loses  his  life  in  the  employ  of 


70 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

his  corporation,  the  government  has  not  yet  commanded 
that  some  provision  be  made  for  his  widow  and  orphans; 
when,  in  a  word,  we  know  ihat  millions  of  men  and  wo- 
men must  look  forward  to  old  age  which  must  mean  for 
them  only  penury,  absolute  poverty,  the  workhouse,  or 
some  other  asylum,  then,  it  is  impossible  for  us  not  to  be- 
lieve that  something  must  be  done  to  provide  against  such 
abnormal  and  inequitable  conditions. 

The  Appeal  for  Justice. 

• 

The  thoughts  of  the  righteous  man  are  for  justice. 
We  must  remember  that,  in  the  ultimate,  justice  is  the 
great  social  virtue  for  which  we,  as  Jews,  must  plead.  As 
members  of  the  House  of  Israel,  we  have  been  called  to 
be  witnesses  for  justice,  to  work  for  ever  improving  moral 
and  economic  conditions  until  justice  is  established  among 
men.  Our  opinions  of  justice  may  differ;  our  views  of 
economics  may  vary  according  to  our  different  disposi- 
tions; yet  no  man,  in  whom  is  a  particle  of  moral  power, 
but  will  admit  that  many  modern  circustances  can  be  im- 
proved, and  that  it  is  our  duty,  our  highest  duty  as 
Americans,  and  more  especially  as  Americans  of  the  Jew- 
ish faith,  to  see  that  conditions  are  changed  in  harmony 
with  the  principles  of  justice. 

Wealth  Accumulates,  Men  Decay. 

It  is  useless  to  deny  that  great  wealth  is  gradually 
being  accumulated  by  a  few  men.  For  the  present,  this 
fact  has  not  affected  the  so-called  middle  classes.  For 
the  present,  the  small  or  large  department  store  has  not 

71 


Religion  and  Social  Theories 

been  adversely  influenced.  For  the  present,  the  small 
manufacturer  has  not  felt  the  consequences  of  this  ac- 
cumulation. For  the  present,  the  bourgeois  ideas  can  pre- 
vail without  undue  interference.  But  can  things  long 
remain  as  they  are?  Are  the  facts  disclosed  by  the  in- 
vestigations of  the  Pujo  Committee  without  significance? 
Do  they  mean  nothing  to  thoughtful  persons?  Is  it  pos- 
sible for  a  few  men  to  possess  such  vast  power  as  our 
economic  system  places  in  their  hands,  and  the  masses  no* 
ultimately  become  adversely  affected  by  it?  Whether 
certain  men  have  been  guilty  or  not  of  entering  into  il- 
legal combinations  in  restraint  of  trade  is  wide  of  the 
mark.  Is  it  not  likely  that  abuse  of  power  will 
force  the  masses  in  self-protection  to  demand,  not 
government  control  and  supervision,  but  government 
ownership  of  the  tools  of  production? 

The  Protest  Worthy  of  Consideration. 

Whether  we  agree  with  Socialistic  theories  or  not, 
whether  we  believe  that  Collectivism  will  succeed  better 
than  private  ownership  or  not,  we  must  be  callous,  in- 
deed, if  we  find  nothing  in  the  appeal  of  Socialism  for  the 
abolition  of  the  oppressive  features  of  modern  economic 
life.  That  Socialism  is  the  ultimate  future  of  govern- 
mental functions  I  do  not  believe  for  a  moment;  but  I  do 
believe  that  its  protests  should,  in  many  directions,  ba 
heeded  so  that  amelioration  may  follow.  Socialism  de- 
sires to  produce  such  a  change  in  human  affairs  that  men 
will  cease  from  competing  for  gain  and  will  be  satisfied 
to  compete  for  honor.  Whether  such  a  state  of  affairs 


72 


The  Purpose  of  Socialism 

can  be  brought  about;  whether  such  a  radical  change  in 
human  nature  is  possible;  whether,  as  we  understand 
human  beings  in  their  present  state,  we  can  trust  our- 
selves to  collective  society;  whether  we  are  willing  to  re- 
nounce all  that  has  been  gained  by  the  world  through 
open  competition,  and  resign  ourselves  confidently  to  an 
untried  new  system  yet  to  be  developed ;  or  whether  we 
believe  that  our  present  system  can  be  so  modified  that 
justice  can  be  satisfied ;  this  we  shall  leave  for  next  week, 
when  we  shall  discuss  the  case  against  Socialism. 


73 


UNIV.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


'•    I 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILI" 


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